PS4 Attitudehttp://ps4attitude.com
PlayStation 4 and Vita news, reviews and articles; run entirely for charity by awesome volunteers...Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:08:28 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.556217198Sonic Mania (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/08/sonic-mania-ps4
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:06:52 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=32163Okay. So, we’re all aware that Sonic the Hedgehog has had some rocky years with the likes of Sonic ’06 and Sonic Boom hurting his reputation, but Sonic Mania is the best he’s […]

]]>Okay. So, we’re all aware that Sonic the Hedgehog has had some rocky years with the likes of Sonic ’06 and Sonic Boom hurting his reputation, but Sonic Mania is the best he’s been in years. He’s had some other great titles like Sonic Generations and Sonic Colours, but seeing the blue blur go back to his roots has been both fresh and nostalgic.

Sonic Mania first thrusts you into the good ol’ Green Hill Zone which will be familiar to players of the original trilogy, but a few changes make it feel new. This is the rule of thumb for many of the zones you’ll whizz through with both new and old coming together to create something that fans will be familiar with, but will also be pleasantly surprised by. Some completely new zones join the fray and the final product is twelve, wonderful zones celebrating Sonic, his legacy, and why we fell in love with him in the first place.

Those of you who played Sonic the Hedgehog 4 might’ve realised that something felt a little off about it. The jumping felt odd and the stages didn’t leave much room for you to explore or take other paths — you could mostly hold right and jump a few times and clear a stage with ease. Mania is a little tougher and I saw the game over screen a handful of times, but it feels like a bona fide Sonic game with its physics and visuals only improved upon from the original games — why change what isn’t broken, right? It’s tight and responsive, works perfectly with the DualShock 4.

You can play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and with the three of them having different abilities, and the stages have been created to make the most out of them. There are routes that only specific characters can tackle, and some of these feel like vastly different stages which only come together towards the end. I played as Sonic first and when I started my second playthrough as Knuckles, I was surprised to see how big Green Hill Zone really is and all of the different opportunities available to me.

Outside of the normal levels, there are several special stages where you can collect the seven chaos emeralds and coins used to unlock stuff in the extras menu. The Sonic CD special stages return where you need to chase down a UFO to collect a chaos emerald and these look suitably old-school, with controls that match — these stages can be a little frustrating but overall I managed to clear all seven pretty quickly, and they’re pretty fun. The mini-game where you need to collect blue spheres to earn coins returns from Sonic the Hedghog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles too. This particular mini-game lasts a while and there are so many of them, and I can’t say I particularly enjoyed it.

Sonic Mania looks absolutely stunning. It’s not a far cry from the visuals of the originals, but it’s smoother with more detailed and extravagant animations. Little touches make the characters feel more alive and personal, and the colour and variety found in the zones is breathtaking. There’s a lot of personality in Sonic Mania and it’s nothing short of a love letter to fans, making fondly remembered levels look even better with new levels that blend in nicely with the already existing ones.

Gone are the lines where Sonic talks about his love of chilli dogs as there’s no voice-acting here, mimicking the days when Sonic and his friends were mute — thankfully, the animations manage to reflect the characters we know and love. The Sonic games have always had outstanding soundtracks and Sonic Mania is no exception to the rule. Its retro tunes fit in perfectly with the game’s matching visuals, and there’s plenty to get your blood pumping. The mix of new and old tunes, and remixes, make for an exciting and catchy listen, and the soundtrack will leave you wondering just how the Sonic games always manage to get such excellent audio work.

Sonic Mania is a celebration of the blue blur’s roots and it’s a fantastic one that had me in awe. There’s very little to complain about bar some issues I have in regards to special stages, but I’m already itching for more — I hope that we see a second Sonic Mania one day! It’s been a while since Sonic was on a Sony platform, but he feels right at home and I’m happy to see Sonic make his way to multiple platforms once again. A wonderful game, a beautiful celebration and a phenomenal platformer, Sonic Mania will invite you back time and time again.

]]>32163Collar x Malice (Vita)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/08/collar-x-malice-vita
http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/08/collar-x-malice-vita#respondMon, 14 Aug 2017 11:05:23 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=31340Collar x Malice thrusts you into the shoes of Hoshino, a female police officer, who is investigating the X-Day Incidents and when she responds to an emergency call one night, […]

]]>Collar x Malice thrusts you into the shoes of Hoshino, a female police officer, who is investigating the X-Day Incidents and when she responds to an emergency call one night, she’s kidnapped by the criminals and has a collar attached to her. This collar has a deadly poison in it and the only way to safely remove it is to find out the truth behind the X-Day Incidents, and only she can get to the bottom of it all.

The X-Day Incidents see people murdered as they’re deemed Sinners by terrorist group Adonis, and this includes police officers and various citizens. The murders are televised and the police are always one step behind, and so they’re poorly viewed in the eyes of the public. When the government locks down Shinjuku and decides to let everybody handle a gun as a means of self-defence, the police find themselves in the horrible position of having to secure everybody’s safety from both a terrorist group and those who don’t understand the danger of guns.

Civil unrest and terrorist groups aren’t the only threats to the police working on the X-Day Incident cases, as there’s potentially employees who are leaking information and might be members of Adonis. You’ll be working with others who are determined to solve these rampant cases as you also search for a way to preserve your own life, and the choices you make will determine how things wrap up. Clever, tense and engaging, Collar x Malice is a fantastic otome game with great characters and an intriguing plot. You’ll get your thriller and love fix here, and I’m very happy that Aksys decided to localise it.

Other than a handful of choices you’ll make on your journey to uncover the truth, you’ll mostly be taking in the story. It’s easy to access the game’s backlog of dialogue, and saving and loading is seamless — you might want to save before making choices, so you don’t have to backtrack much if you accidentally get a bad end. Thankfully, the skip function works as intended and choices you’ve made in the past are highlighted blue. There are several good endings and even more bad ones, and the game gripped me enough to want to experience them all.

Collar x Malice is an absolutely stunning game with gorgeous artwork and inspired character design, and I found it hard to tear my eyes away from its beauty. It’s clearly an otome game with those notable otome eyes and whatnot, but it strictly stays in tone with the mature story. This is amongst the most breathtaking games this year, and I eagerly absorbed it as I tackled its various paths. It’s mostly voice-acted outside of Hoshino, and its Japanese voice-over and soundtrack are pleasant and easy on the ears. There’s no other languages available here, but the Japanese performances leave nothing to be desired.

Collar x Malice is a game I’ve been thinking about a lot, and it’s one that really enthralled me. It’s likely my favourite otome game to date thanks to its variety of brilliant characters, developments and its thrilling plot, and I found myself being distracted by thoughts of it as I attempted to do other things — sorry if I played a game online with you and was sleeping on the job because it’s very likely I was playing this! Collar x Malice will keep your attention until you’ve experienced all of it, and it’s an experience that I’m happy to have had.

]]>http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/08/collar-x-malice-vita/feed031340Nurse Love Addiction (Vita)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/nurse-love-addiction-vita
http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/nurse-love-addiction-vita#respondMon, 31 Jul 2017 14:33:17 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=27641Unless you’re interested in visual novels or yuri titles, you might not have heard about Nurse Love Addiction. The Vita is the perfect platform for visual novels and so it […]

]]>Unless you’re interested in visual novels or yuri titles, you might not have heard about Nurse Love Addiction. The Vita is the perfect platform for visual novels and so it landed in the West earlier this month, I knew I had to get it. I’ve reviewed several otome games in the past, but this is my first yuri – girl on girl – review, and it’s a little different to what I’d expected.

Asuka Osachi, and her sister Nao, enroll in Teito Nursing School to train to become professional nurses. Whilst Nao would make for the perfect nurse, she’s only attending as she wishes to be with her sister. Clumsy Asuka, however, has wanted to be a nurse since she was a child due to her favourite childhood book spurning her on. Alongside talented teacher Kaede, “princess” Sakuya and her girlfriend Itsuki, the group of girls will spend three years training together. Of course, that’s not all there is to it as you may end up in a relationship with any of these girls! But is that all that Nurse Love Addiction has to offer? No, it isn’t all cuddles and roses here.

There are a few twists and turns which’ll either keep your rapt attention, or leave you wondering as to why the game’s official description fibbed to you a little — I certainly didn’t expect anything other than a light-hearted, fluffy yuri title, but there are some extremely dark moments! Thankfully, I ultimately enjoyed the plot and found myself wanting the best for each character. I assume the canon ending is Nao’s good ending due to the story elements which are revealed, and how it all wraps up, and this also happened to be my favourite ending. I completed every route and I feel bad for you if you somehow get a bad ending first — those are brutal.

The game itself plays well with multiple choices and endings, and I eventually found myself completing all of them. The bad endings feel pretty out of place and I could’ve happily not have seen them, but the good endings all come together to give you the entire story — again though, I feel that Nao’s ending is the canon ending, and it’s the only one where I felt that there was a satisfying conclusion for all characters. You can save (and there are multiple slots) and access the backlog at any time, and Nurse Love Addiction has a pleasant and easy-to-use interface. Seeing how the UI looks on Steam, it definitely looks cleaner on Vita.

Nurse Love Addiction has a soft art palette which is easy on the eyes, and the simple character designs are endearing and befitting of each character’s personalities. The sprite work is great as is the background and CG art, and Nurse Love Addiction is undeniably a gorgeous game. I enjoy how the character sprites change to match the time of day, as opposed to being bright all the time and I especially like the hair and its notable shine and glitter! A fully voiced and emotive Japanese cast do their best to bring the cast of characters to life, and the piano-lead soundtrack is generally gentle and a pleasure to listen to.

Visual novels are increasingly becoming more popular, and the Vita (and PS4) are seeing more of them now than ever before. Nurse Love Addiction begins as a cute and simple yuri title, but it has a lot of twists and turns which are both unsettling and unexpected. If you see it through to the end though, you should be happily satisfied. Everything comes together nicely when you’ve tackled all routes, and I recommend completing all of them. Or at least the multiple good ones, as otherwise you’ll never get the full story.

Nurse Love Addiction, at one point, had me pretty fed up with the game — it isn’t what it’s made out to be in the game’s official description, and some may not like the angle it takes later on in the game. Having collected my thoughts and having experienced all the endings though, I found myself wanting more from the game. It’s a slow burn but Nurse Love Addiction will grab you, and I’ve found it to be a thought-provoking title. If you enjoy visual novels and yuri then you should definitely pick it up, although be warned that it’s not all fluff.

]]>http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/nurse-love-addiction-vita/feed027641Accel World vs Sword Art Online (Vita)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/accel-world-vs-sword-art-online-vita
http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/accel-world-vs-sword-art-online-vita#respondTue, 25 Jul 2017 11:52:17 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=25732Accel World vs Sword Art Online brings together author Reki Kawahara’s most popular works together for the second time, following a brief crossover one-shot manga that happened in the past. With […]

]]>Accel World vs Sword Art Online brings together author Reki Kawahara’s most popular works together for the second time, following a brief crossover one-shot manga that happened in the past. With many similarities between the two series’, but many differences too, they blend together in an exciting and wonderful way.

When the users of VRMMO game Alfheim Online are asked to immediately log out, Kirito and his friends feel that this is odd and decide to investigate instead. Yui is quickly kidnapped as Kirito, Asuna and Black Lotus battle, with the latter quickly realising that she’s been tricked by the mysterious Persona Vabel to believe that Alfheim’s inhabitants are enemies. With the characters of Sword Art Online and Accel World both wanting to find out why their worlds have connected, they work together to take down Persona Vabel and save Yui.

As a big fan of both series’, it’s nice to see them come together in a fresh, unprecedented way. The Sword Art Online games have gotten better with each installment, but this is by far the best one. The banter between characters is natural and brings a smile to my face, and it’s nice seeing which characters hit it off from their first meeting — Klein and Ash Roller are two peas in a pod! It tells a solid story that kept me engrossed, with plenty of side-content and chances for the characters to interact.

The game will run you 30+ hours based on story and side-quests alone, but then there’s also co-op and PvP to play! Co-op allows you to tackle missions with friends, whilst PvP lets you battle against the AI or others online in a 1v1 duel — considering the amount of skills, hotkeys and combo opportunities there are, this genuinely comes down to a battle of skill and understanding of the games mechanics.

The gameplay makes the most of both series’ by providing unique characters to play with, with Sword Art Online characters being able to freely fly whilst Accel World characters – bar Silver Crow and Sky Raker – are not able to fly, but instead can rapidly jump extremely high. Accel World characters weapons are inbuilt into their forms, and so they cannot be changed like the weapons of everyone else, but all weapons can be upgraded. These little differences make both casts’ feel separate from one another, and they compliment each other very well — these series’ take place in the same world, after all! If you’ve played an MMO before, then you’ll come to grips with the game’s controls and hotkey system very quickly.

Unlike in an MMO, you can use light and heavy attacks in-between skills, but there’s a great deal of customisation options as you’d expect! There are various weapons, each with their own unique skills, that characters can wield and it’s wise to have different weapons for each of your three party members. Characters don’t level up unless they’re being used though, so try and make time to use all of your favourites! You can upgrade weapons, and buy a variety of armour, accessories and other bits to strengthen your characters.

Visually this is the best game in the series, but it’s lacking in power and I’d like to see the engine given an overhaul for the next title. Both series’ have their own art style which is reflected in the gorgeous 2D portraits, making it easy to tell who hails from where, and they come together in a way that isn’t jarring or unnatural. Characters look great and how the areas incorporate elements of both worlds makes the fan in me ecstatic, although the dungeons feel very similar to one another. The Vita suffers from some slowdown when flying around and in battle, but the PS4 version runs smoothly and is the version that I’d recommend — there’s cross-save if you want both, though!

There’s no English dub (will we ever see a Sword Art Online title with an English dub? Maybe not…) but many of the anime’s Japanese voice-actors and actresses return to reprise their roles which is lovely. The soundtrack is solid too!

Accel World vs Sword Art Online is a brilliant game which brings two of my favourite worlds together, and it’s the best Sword Art Online game to date. A lengthy story, plenty of side-quests, PvP, co-op and entertaining interactions between the incredibly large cast will keep you engaged for dozens of hours. You can play as pretty much any notable character from each cast which is exciting, although only having three people in a party means you’ll be sweating over who to take into battle! Accel World vs Sword Art Online is fantastic and a delight for fans, and it’s also a good entry point into each series.

]]>http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/accel-world-vs-sword-art-online-vita/feed025732Cars 3: Driven to Win (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/cars-3-driven-win-ps4
Mon, 17 Jul 2017 20:27:27 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=25205We don’t get many video games inspired by movies nowadays, but Cars 3: Driven to Win focuses less on its movie counterpart and more on being an arcade-inspired racer. Similar […]

]]>We don’t get many video games inspired by movies nowadays, but Cars 3: Driven to Win focuses less on its movie counterpart and more on being an arcade-inspired racer. Similar to the likes of Mario Kart and Blur, Driven to Win is plenty of fun even if it is way too difficult for children.

Having not seen the movie yet, I’m pleased to say that this doesn’t really get into the story in any notable detail, and so you’re safe to play without spoiling the movie. It begins with Lightning McQueen getting back into professional racing as an “old-timer”, as much of his competition is much younger now, as he proves that he’s still got what it takes to be the fastest car on the track. With your reason for driving in place, you take to the road as various Cars characters in an attempt to become the world’s best racer.

A variety of modes await you including Race, Battle, Elimination, local multiplayer and small tournaments. Battle is similar to a standard race but there are weapon pick-ups for both offence and defence, and Elimination sees you take down various AI cars with your aim being to destroy as many as you can in the given time limit. As mentioned earlier, this is a difficult game — it takes no mercy on you, despite being a game aimed at children. The medium difficulty will make you question how a child could ever come first place and you’ll come to the same answer I did – they cannot. I managed to but it’s a lot of effort! I’m not ashamed to say I played on easy sometimes, which is still relatively difficult all things considered.

The racing itself is simple with the ability to drift, jump, use nitro and weapons to mix things up, and so getting to grips with Driven to Win is easy. It’s arcade-inspired and clearly had a tight budget, but it’s an entertaining game — the lack of online multiplayer makes it clear that this is aimed at children and families though, and older players will likely not find too much to do here. I mean, of course it’s aimed at children! I don’t need to tell you that, but I’ve had a lot of fun with Driven to Win and its decent array of single player content. A patch for that AI difficulty would be nice, though.

Driven to Win is a colourful game that doesn’t look nearly as good as the Pixar film, but its creative maps and characters make it a joy to see in motion. The dirt and water effects come across as pretty bland and lacking detail, but it’s not anything that children will likely worry themselves with, and there are a good few customisation items including lights, horns and trails. The voice-acting is brilliant with some of the voice-actors and actresses reprising their roles, but the soundtrack doesn’t quite have the same impact.

Cars 3: Driven to Win is expensive for what it is, and the AI will frustrate many of those who play it. It’s a simple, fun game that I’ve enjoyed my time with but I doubt I’ll return to it much in future considering it has no online multiplayer. This could’ve been so much more than it is and it does feel like a cheap cash-in based on the success of the movie, and it’s a shame as the Cars games have all been enjoyable. £49.99 is very steep and the physical version is exclusive to Argos at £39.99 which isn’t much better, and with £49.99 being the general asking price that’s way too high for what’s on offer. If you have children who love Cars though, then putting easy mode on and playing with them could be a great time for all.

]]>25205Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/utawarerumono-mask-deception-ps4
Fri, 07 Jul 2017 12:24:47 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=22330Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception doesn’t only have a long name, but it also has a rich history dating back to 2002. Known for being a visual novel with turn-based tactical […]

]]>Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception doesn’t only have a long name, but it also has a rich history dating back to 2002. Known for being a visual novel with turn-based tactical elements, Mask of Deception builds on the series’ legacy whilst ensuring that it’s accessible to newcomers — this game is a sequel, but you don’t need to have played the first game which was never released in the West anyway.

Mask of Deception follows Haku, as he finds himself in an unfamiliar world, running around from the clutches of bloodthirsty monsters. As he’s finally accepted his death, he’s saved by the beautiful Kuon who vows to look after him. Suffering from amnesia, Haku has to learn the ways of this new world as he journeys with Kuon to regain his memories. Heavily fantasy-inspired with a sprinkle of political matters, Mask of Deception proves to weave an engaging tale which is abundant with colourful characters, well-written dialogue, a strong localisation and thrilling battles, and it’s not difficult to sit down and sink a few hours at a time with the vibrant fantasy world that’s been concocted.

Mask of Deception does what I’d like every visual novel to do, or at least to have the option, in that it has controls at the bottom of the screen. No more accidentally fast-forwarding text or skipping scenes, because you can quickly refer to the controls — I’m very appreciative of this and it happens to be minimalist, and you can hide all text if you’re looking to take screenshots. It’s easy to access the backlog in case you skipped ahead too quickly, too!

The turn-based battles are equally as easy to come to grips with, and I’ve enjoyed how straight-forward and accessible the tactical side of the game is. I’m not the best at tactical RPG’s, but I had a blast with Mask of Deception. Battles take place on a square-grid as you move your characters around, positioning them in a way that will hopefully not see them swarmed by enemies.

It’s pretty standard for a strategy-RPG which makes it great for visual novel fans who don’t want their progress hindered, and the way the battles slot in in-between the visual novel segments is seamless. You move your character and choose which action they’ll take, but what’s unique is that once an action is underway, you have a chance to press X again as a circle closes in, or hold it as it fills up — you’ll see them appear after most attacks, and in doing so your attacks do more damage, and even give you another chance to take another action.

The world springs to life with its magical beings, creative monsters and atmospheric world. The high-quality 2D portraits are gorgeous and the CG images are equally as splendid, and the character expressions range from subtle to hugely expressive which got a few, well-intended laughs out of me. When in battle, characters turn into 3D chibi versions of themselves which fit the colourful and whimsical world. There’s no English dub but the Japanese voice-acting is pleasant and emotive, and the brilliant soundtrack is the cherry on top.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is an excellent game and I wish that I’d played it on Vita rather than PS4 as it’s such a great fit for the system, but I didn’t enjoy it any less on PS4. Mask of Deception manages to avoid becoming convoluted and whilst it’s left open for its sequel, Mask of Truth, to release later this year, there’s still so much story to uncover here. Along with some funny banter and a few intense, emotional scenes, Mask of Deception will keep your attention through its lengthy adventure. I like to support visual novels on PS4 and Vita, and Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception proves that it’s well worth playing.

]]>22330Micro Machines World Tour (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/micro-machines-world-tour-ps4
Thu, 06 Jul 2017 12:51:09 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=2332830th June was a nostalgic day for gaming fans when both Crash Bandicoot and Micro Machines made their way onto PS4, stealing the hearts of those who loved the games […]

]]>30th June was a nostalgic day for gaming fans when both Crash Bandicoot and Micro Machines made their way onto PS4, stealing the hearts of those who loved the games as children all over again — maybe even their kids or nephews and nieces too! Whilst Crash Bandicoot knocked it out of the park, Micro Machines World Tour leaves a lot to be desired.

You can experience everything that the latest Micro Machines game has to offer within one hour. With close to no single player content, only three multiplayer modes and a local multiplayer mode to be found, there’s very little to actually do — you can’t even play the standard race mode in offline multiplayer, but only in single player! Earning loot boxes to unlock new colours for the twelve cars available, voice lines and other things is almost offensive considering that you can only grind out three modes to get them — many of the games I played had AI intermingled with real players too, presumably because online isn’t very active right now. It likely never will be.

The three modes are Race, which is self-explanatory but you now have weapons you can use to get ahead, Battle, which again is self-explanatory in that you need to destroy your opponents, and Elimination which sees cars destroyed when they go off-camera or fall off of the map, and they don’t return until the next lap — whoever has lived the longest wins the game. These three modes are good fun but, other than Race, they all suffer from one glaring flaw — they’re just too long. Elimination and Battle can both easily outstay their welcome, and I found myself becoming bored long before the winner was announced.

The greatest shame about this game is the lack of content, which is only made more notable by the game itself actually being very fun to play. Well, bar the camera which can sometimes cause an undue death due to how very little it shows you of what’s ahead — when you’re in first place in Elimination, you’re more likely to be eliminated by the camera. Micro Machines doesn’t have the tightest controls when it comes to racing games but it doesn’t need to have them, because at the end of the day you’re essentially driving remote controlled cars. It still sports that familiar arcade-inspired feel but has very little opportunity to show it off and it’s clear that Micro Machines World Tour could have been much more than it is, and it certainly deserves it. The simplicity of the game makes it accessible to everyone, but design choices and a focus on multiplayer-only makes it far harder to jump in.

Visually, Micro Machines looks fantastic. The maps are fun and make use of the Hasbro licensing, meaning you’ll see familiar items such as Nerf guns and board games such as Hungry Hippos, and they’re a blast to see. Micro Machines still feels as if you’re a kid playing around, making the most out of the normal environments around you, and a lot of love, care and thought has gone into each of the maps. The twelve cars are all very different and even have their own individual personalities, so you might even find yourself picking your favourite car as opposed to which you feel is best. The music is unremarkable and the voice-acting is vibrant, though not very prominent.

Micro Machines World Tour isn’t the game that it could’ve been, and it feels as if so much attention was poured into how the game looks and feels that there wasn’t enough time to really make them worth their while. Decent, faithful controls and beautiful, fantastical maps can’t save a game with so little content, and it’s understandable why it released at only £20. Even so, it’s hard to not feel slightly cheated at how little there is to do. Micro Machines World Tour is a mixed bag because of this because it has nostalgia-fuelled fun which stands on its own two feet in regard to how it plays, but I can’t see the online on this being very lively for a long period of time. It’s an underwhelming experience, and Codemasters are capable of so much more. As it stands, this feels like a cash in on wholesome nostalgia.

]]>23328God Wars: Future Past (Vita)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/07/god-wars-future-past-vita
Sat, 01 Jul 2017 12:11:02 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=22329God Wars: Future Past follows Princess Kaguya, a girl who’s set to be sacrificed to the volcano of Mount Fuji in an attempt to prevent the end of the world, as […]

]]>God Wars: Future Past follows Princess Kaguya, a girl who’s set to be sacrificed to the volcano of Mount Fuji in an attempt to prevent the end of the world, as she’s rescued by her childhood friend Kintaro. With Kaguya refusing to be killed without the knowledge of why this is happening to her, she journeys to find her mother and to learn of the reasons behind her actions.

God Wars takes a lot of inspiration from Japanese folklore with the historical Japanese book Kojiki, and the ancient figure Shaka being fused together to create a single story. It’s interesting to experience these stories for the first time, and the legendary characters who come to life in a video game, as I’m heavily intrigued by Japanese folklore and history. It’s clearly very anime-inspired with a few cliches thrown in – which you may or may not like – but it’s humour and exuberant characters will likely keep your attention.

God Wars is a tactical RPG which means that, yes, sadly I’m not very good at it. You prepare your team and set them off to battle on a square grid, ensuring that they’re positioned in a way that won’t be fatal to them. Once you’re happy with the position of your team, it’s up to you if they should attack, guard, use an item or ability, with each character having different strengths. With thirty different job classes, a vast array of equipment and an equally as boisterous amount of skills to learn, you can shape your character however you’d like — it’s pretty clear who should be doing what, though.

As mentioned before, God Wars is a fairly difficult game but there are easier difficulty options if you feel that you’d like them — there’s no shame in this, after all! Being a game that’s got such a great emphasis on tactics and strategy, you might already feel that you have enough on your plate without worrying about if an enemy is likely to wipe you out in the next turn or not – easy is still pretty challenging, though. Regardless of how you tackle God Wars, you’ll want to be patient as you battle through each stage as a blunder could set you back a fair bit of progress.

One of my favourite artists, Mino Taro, has worked on the character design in God Wars and, like always, I’m blown away by his distinct style and masterful work. His art style is unique and easily identifiable, and seeing his work here is very satisfying. Opposite to the 2D portraits used in conversation, battles uses 3D chibi-inspired models which are rather cute — despite the serious story tackled in the game itself, these visuals never felt as if they didn’t fit. It looks and runs smoothly across both PS4 and Vita, although I preferred to play this particular game on Sony’s splendid little handheld.

The voice-acting for this one is a mixed bag. The main cast give solid performances (I’m pretty sure that Christine Marie Cabanos is the one giving Kaguya such a lovely performance) but minor characters sound pretty dreadful. Over-acted and exaggerated, many of the side characters sound animated and out of place, and there was more than a couple of times where I wondered if some voice-actors and actresses were given any direction at all. The soundtrack doesn’t feature the same missteps and whilst it isn’t something I’d find myself listening to outside of the game, it provided a suitable atmosphere for the game.

God Wars: Future Past should impress those with a love for Japanese folklore and TRPG’s, and even if the genre isn’t your cup of tea you might still find enjoyment due to the narrative — just turn it on easy! I do believe that this game is perfectly suited for Vita, although there’s no issues in playing it on PS4, but it being visual novel and TRPG hybrid lends itself to being portable. Whilst some of the dialogue can be hit or miss and feel a little out of place, overall God Wars is solid TRPG and we all know that we don’t get many of those on either system anymore.

]]>22329Dark Rose Valkyrie (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/dark-rose-valkyrie-ps4
Wed, 28 Jun 2017 13:24:00 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=20366Dark Rose Valkyrie is Compile Heart’s latest IP and, as a big fan of the studio, I’m happy to say that I like what they’ve done with this game. Similar […]

]]>Dark Rose Valkyrie is Compile Heart’s latest IP and, as a big fan of the studio, I’m happy to say that I like what they’ve done with this game. Similar to Omega Quintet in that it boasts a darker story in a world with a dwindling population, Dark Rose Valkyrie is another grand JRPG where you’re on a world-saving mission.

When a virus from a mysterious meteorite, the Black Garnet, starts infecting the human mind and body, they’re turned into the grotesque Chimera. With 3% of the total world population lost to the Chimera Virus and rising, a team dubbed the Special Force Valkyrie is created to quash this threat. You play as new captain Asahi Shiramine as he brings the team together to become a force to be reckoned with, but there’s discourse due to a traitor amongst your ranks… oh, your team members have split personalities too, making it even harder to choose who might be betraying you all.

You need to earn the trust of your teammates by answering their questions correctly, but I’m not certain on if this plays into who the traitor during your playthrough is. You’ll be tasked with interviewing each squad member as you progress through the game, finding contradictions in what they say to confirm if they’re telling the truth or not. Similarly to Lost Dimension, the traitor changes with each playthrough.

Dark Rose Valkyrie is turn-based and you can have a party of four – each with their own support character – to take into battle with you. You pick an action to perform and by using the bar on the top left of the screen, you can see which attack is deemed to be more powerful. However, selecting the stronger attacks means waiting longer for them to be put into action, so there’s a layer of strategy as enemies play by the same rules as you do — sometimes it’s best to go in and mop up quickly as waiting for an action to be performed leaves you open to attack. You can use special skills, items or choose to defend or withdraw too.

You can distribute stat points that each character earns individually, and they tend to be naturally skewed to certain builds. Some are best with firearms, some excel at melee attacks and others shine brightest when using magic. All characters earn experience regardless of who is participating in battle, but actually handing the points out can be a drag if multiple characters level up at once.

The game will force you to complete an abundance of side-quests before it allows you to continue on with the main game, and these generally consist of fetch quests or defeating specific enemies — it can be a bit dull and is clearly there to pad out the game, despite it being lengthy without the multitude of side content. Navigating the world map and working out exactly what the game wants you to do can be a frustrating experience, too.

Compile Heart are content with not squeezing much power out of the PS4, but their character models have certainly improved over the years. Whilst the 2D artwork and character designs are something I can’t fault, the sometimes bland environments and unstable framerate can be a tad disappointing — this game isn’t technically impressive enough to warrant some highly notable framerate drops, and it’s questionable as to why they weren’t smoothed out more. Although far from a bad looking game, Dark Rose Valkyrie proves that Compile Heart need to update their engine so that their games run better, at the very least.

Dark Rose Valkyrie features a solid dub cast with the likes of Erik Kimerer, Laura Post, Erica Mendez, Cherami Leigh and Cristina Vee lending their voices to the game, and they’re pleasant to listen to. The soundtrack is a good effort that might not reach the highs of previous Compile Heart games, but it matches the games darker atmosphere well — of course, there are a few more upbeat tracks because despite how bleak the situation is, the characters do sometimes enjoy having a good laugh amongst each other’s company.

Dark Rose Valkyrie is another ambitious game from the team at Compile Heart and whilst its characters and story are engaging, its emphasis on tiresome side-quests and vague directions don’t do much bar tarnish the experience — this has been an issue in Omega Quintet too. Compile Heart create wonderful JRPGs and new IP which I’m thankful for, but I’d like for them to work on letting the player tackle the game how they want, rather than being forced to complete repetitive side content with no relevance to the main plot before they’re able to continue. Dark Rose Valkyrie is an enjoyable game if you can wade through its faults though, and I’m looking forward to what Compile Heart do next.

]]>20366Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/danganronpa-another-episode-ultra-despair-girls-ps4
Wed, 28 Jun 2017 12:37:29 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=22180Hello again, Ultra Despair Girls! This is my second time reviewing this game, having reviewed it when it released on Vita, and it’s been a pleasure returning to it. This […]

]]>Hello again, Ultra Despair Girls! This is my second time reviewing this game, having reviewed it when it released on Vita, and it’s been a pleasure returning to it. This Danganronpa midquel is a far cry from the series’ visual novel roots, opting for a third-person shooter vibe instead, and you know what? It succeeds in being a fresh, engaging title that the series can be proud of.

Ultra Despair Girls takes place between the first and second games, and it follows Komaru Naegi as she tries to escape the perils of Towa City. She’s joined by Toko Fukawa – and her split personality Genocide Jack – who’s present as she wishes to save Byakuya Togami who went missing in his attempt to rescue Komaru. The two battle the Monokuna robots and a new threat, a group of sadistic children known as the Warriors of Hope, as they fight to survive and bring a glimpse of hope to a horrifyingly ravaged world.

Whilst it’s as good of a game that it was on Vita, it’s not managed the jump to console without a few issues. The camera, which follows you or lets you control it yourself in one of two different options, can still be a tad cumbersome in its execution — you never have full control over it, which can be a pain if you’re becoming quickly surrounded by enemies. It’s unlikely to get you killed, but it might lead to some wasted ammo which is pretty distressing.

The shooting itself is solid and the range of ammo at your disposal adds a layer of strategy in how you tackle your foes – you can blast, hack, burn or paralyze incoming threats, with certain Monokuma being weak to certain ammo. There are a few mini-games, primarily an arcade mini-game which shows up way too often towards the end, that offer a fresh break from the shooting sections. When playing as Toko, the shooting is swapped out for hack and slash as you use Toko’s trademark scissors to destroy enemies. The game blends action, visual novel elements and puzzles exceedingly well, keeping the game from becoming stale over its almost twenty hour journey.

Ultra Despair Girls boasts a fabulous art style that still shines on PS4, even though the character models in cutscenes look a little less clean — this was a Vita game though, and it’s still a great port. Unlike the other Danganronpa PS4 ports, Ultra Despair Girls’ environments have been touched up along with the models so that both look better than they previously had done — the other games seemed to have only notably improved the character models. The 2D portraits look brilliant and are very emotive, and the new Monokuma designs are genuinely terrifying, along with the unsettling environment which is Towa City.

Speaking of emotion, Ultra Despair Girls has a wonderful English dub that gave me chills. Erin Fitzgerald reprises her role as the crazy Toko and Cherami Leigh does spectacularly as Komaru — I couldn’t help but empathise with her plight as she gives such a raw, powerful performance which deserves all the praise that it gets. Danganronpa generally has an excellent soundtrack and Ultra Despair Girls is no exception, featuring many remixes from the main games as well as a handful of new tracks. A slew of sentimental, quirky and upbeat tracks mix together to match the beats of the game, and I can be found listening to the main menu theme on repeat.

I’m very happy to see all of the Danganronpa games make their way to PS4, and I was initially disappointed that Ultra Despair Girls wasn’t joining its brethren but, thankfully, it’s now here and it’s as good as it’s always been. Ultra Despair Girls is a fast-paced, story-driven shooter with puzzles and riddles, and it fits perfectly into the world of Danganronpa despite being so different. I’d be happy if developer Spike Chunsoft wanted to tackle something like this again in future, and it’s another fantastic entry in a strong series of games.

]]>22180Get Even (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/get-even-ps4
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 16:26:49 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=20632Get Even is a psychological thriller game which prides itself on being unique, and for the most part is succeeds — it really is quite unlike anything that I’ve played. […]

]]>Get Even is a psychological thriller game which prides itself on being unique, and for the most part is succeeds — it really is quite unlike anything that I’ve played.

As Cole Black, you’ll have to traverse your memories and the present to string together a series of events which involve the wrongdoings in an asylum, a girl being kidnapped and tied to a bomb, and the leaking of prototype weapons. Black, as a mercenary, played a role in almost everything that occurred but struggles to remember it. With the help of Red, Black is able to use photos to return to the past to finally be able to connect everything together. It’s tense and creepy, but its narrative and the way it drip feeds you information will keep you coming back for more. You’ll be questioning what’s real and what’s isn’t, but you won’t have your answers until you’ve reached the end.

Get Even mixes first-person shooting, puzzles and detective mechanics in its attempt to tell a story-driven FPS unlike what you’ve seen before. Whilst it certainly is unique, the controls can sometimes be a bit cumbersome, especially when navigating your phone and it’s multitude of options — it’s easier to bring up the wheel and choose from there, as opposed to scrolling through the phone itself. Shooting is mostly fluid although not as refined as many other games on the market, but overall it gets the job done without any notable issues.

With your phone as your disposal, you’re able to use a UV light to find footsteps and other clues, a scanner to reveal new doorways (possible due to memories not always being reliable, but what exactly you’re supposed to scan can sometimes be a tad vague), a map to track enemies and to check texts. You’ll be using all of these functions regularly to the point you’ll have your phone out more than your gun, and I like the emphasis on it being used to progress. This way you can tackle the game in a more stealthy manner rather than flat out shooting your enemies — Red does warn you that what you do in your memories has real world effects, after all, and you’d be wise to listen. Your gun has a camera that allows you to shoot round corners though – which is rad – so I expect to see that in Rainbow Six Siege someday!

Get Even isn’t the prettiest game on PS4 but it’s unsettling atmosphere and abandoned locales aid the game in having its own sense of identity. The abused asylum with its rampaging inmates will keep you on your toes as you turn corners, and the creaking of doors and old materials in buildings make you feel as if you’re never truly alone — even when you’re told that there are no readings of other life. Get Even’s visual work makes up for much of the games atmosphere, and it genuinely had me having to collect myself at times before continuing.

I was fortunate enough to attend an event for Get Even to learn more about the audio in general, and it’s nothing short of fascinating. Real noises are used as part of the games soundtrack such as a ticking clock and gas, and it helps to provide a suspenseful atmosphere as the music ramps up with the progress you make — the clock gets faster and louder, for example. This is a game that’s perfect for headphones, and it’s British voice-acting is brilliant. Get Even has a very human story underneath it about Black and his wife, and these scenes are brought to life with emotive voice-acting. Bandai Namco, composer Olivier Derivière and the team have all the reason to be proud of the audio work they’ve created.

Get Even is rather unique but it shares a lot of similarities with other games and so it’s hard to describe it as a completely fresh experience, but it is an engaging, well- executed experience regardless. Get Even will keep you guessing until the end because as Black pieces everything together, you are too. Its reasonable price makes it a sure thing to pick up, and you’ll likely be surprised with how great Get Even is.

]]>20632Sam’s Thinking about his Top 40 Gameshttp://ps4attitude.com/opinion/2017/06/sams-thinking-top-40-games
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 15:14:18 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=20828Over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking to myself about a big question. A question I’m asked often and I think I’ve answered differently every time. For the answer […]

]]>Over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking to myself about a big question. A question I’m asked often and I think I’ve answered differently every time. For the answer is evolving and possibly as I’m a little useless at deciding.

The question is what is my favourite video game? So I will keep a track here for you all to see what my favourite games of all time are. Look below for my Top 40 games of all time.

This list will evolve and change as new games arrive and old ones get remembered so be sure to check back and see if your favourite games appear, feel free to comment them below.

]]>20828Dirt 4 (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/dirt-4-ps4
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 14:19:19 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=20806Well, I have done it. I have found one of my favourite racing games of all time. No, not Dirt 4. Alas this new instalment to the series has merely […]

]]>Well, I have done it. I have found one of my favourite racing games of all time. No, not Dirt 4. Alas this new instalment to the series has merely helped me confirm two thoughts. That Dirt 3 was one of the worst racing games I’ve played and Dirt 2 is easily one of the best.

Dirt 4 does what it aims for excellently. Simply three modes all compiled is what awaits you in your career as new driver on the scene. Each event can be completed with either a car in your garage that is in the right class or you can agree to race for a different motorsport team.

If you choose to race with your own team you’ll take all the winnings but pay all the costs for the repairs. Dirt 4 has added this fantastic feature of running your own motorsport team, from facilities and staff to livery and sponsors. It makes each win that little bit sweeter and encourages you to try and not write your car off, after all the costs would be coming out of your war chest.

4’s failure to me is a lack of variety. I’ll admit that the ability to choose between the challenging yet fun Gamer mode or the purist’s heaven in Simulation mode is a fantastic idea for games of this ilk. However, Only 3 true race types is an issue for me. Landrush, Rallycross and Rally or Historic Rally. Don’t get me wrong each one is enjoyable but it’s nothing compared to the 5 race types with a further 3 special variations that you found in Dirt 2. The World Tour in Dirt 2 was a fluid journey though the continents and exciting races. Playing Dirt 4 made me miss the Trailblazer, Domination and Last Man Standing races. In fact it made me pick up my old copy of the 2009 game and enjoy the excitement all over again.

Pure rallying is much better in this instalment than any before and is clearly the main focus of this game based on the additional Historic Rally and the fact that the rally portion of the game is considerably longer than the circuit based races. The feel of each terrain and kind of weather is palpable with the braking point shifting and the tire grip loosening. It is a thrill that a petrolhead will feel but I fear an ordinary gamer may not, even when they stick it in Gamer mode.

The circuit races have lost a certain level of excitement from the days of Ken Block and Tanner Faust racing alongside you but they seem more pure and true to life. After all this is the official FIA Rallycross game. I fear this is a mere license that upon chasing has caused the game to lose the appeal it used to have. Landrush is a speedy affair with the smallest contact with your opponents could send you flying through the tire wall. They are less tense than the Rally but little can be more fun that your aggression causing someone else to spin off the track even if it slows you up a little.

Dirt is now a series far more for the purist, someone who wants to hit the racing line without fail and find their ultimate braking point. I am one of these people to an extent but I found more fun in the massive range of cars, tracks and game modes in the second Dirt game.

Dirt 4 is without doubt the finest rallying sim of all time. Possibly until GT Sport or Project Cars 2 release soon it will be the finest racing sim full stop. It does however lack the fun and excitement of its predecessors. I can’t help but feel that it would have benefited from not being a part of the Dirt Series. If Codemasters tried to not cater for two groups with one game. Keep Dirt for one of them and give a new series to the other.

]]>20806Dreamfall Chapters (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/dreamfall-chapters-ps4
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 10:40:39 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=18798Considering that they were only on PC, I never got round to playing The Longest Journey and it’s sequel Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, and so I could only help that […]

]]>Considering that they were only on PC, I never got round to playing The Longest Journey and it’s sequel Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, and so I could only help that developer Red Thread Games would make Dreamfall Chapters easily accessible for those who are joining the adventure for the first time on systems outside of PC.

I’ll hand it to Red Thread Games for creating a video that recaps the story so far, but it’s never the same as experiencing it as things are, inevitably, always left out. If you’ve played the other games then you’re going to glean more from Dreamfall Chapters, but there’s an interesting enough story to entice newcomers too. Zoe, who is in a coma, becomes trapped in another world known as Storyland, a land made of dreams and nightmares, along with other Dreamachine users as she journeys to wake her physical body up. Yeah, this would likely make a lot more sense had I played the others, as well as why she and her dad have a broken relationship, but alas, I’m meeting Zoe for the first time and I’m rooting for her.

References and a bit of confusion aside, I really like the magical worlds of Storytime and the fantastical Arcadia that Dreamfall Chapters inhabits, as well as the more scientific, cyberpunk world known as Stark. Both worlds are at stark (heh) contrast with one another with their own personalities and they’re great to explore. There’s a lot of lore to sift through and I’m sure fans will get a kick out of returning to Zoe’s adventure and seeing how it all wraps up — it finishes neatly and after such a long wait, The Longest Journey is finally over.

Dreamfall Chapters is an adventure game where you’ll be inspecting objects and hearing your character’s thoughts on them, as well as solving puzzles to continue your journey. You can choose how to interact with an object such as touching it, looking at it or thinking about it, and you’ll likely check what each option does most of the time, even if it’s just out of curiosity. You’ll also take control of Kian and Saga to make up three playable characters with intertwining stories. I wish I was more familiar with the Dreamfall universe as what I’ve seen here I’ve quite enjoyed, but I can’t help but feel that I could’ve enjoyed it more had I been more familiar with the series.

Whilst gameplay is straightforward, I did find myself lost from time to time due to lack of direction on what to do next, or the controls sometimes getting in the way of themselves — it can sometimes be a bit clunky in conjunction with the camera. It’s story and character driven with the gameplay there to tell the story, and this is one game that might’ve worked rather well as a visual novel too. I liked exploring its worlds though and it’s interesting enough to keep you returning, and I imagine it must’ve been a struggle to wait and play this episodically when it originally released.

Dreamfall Chapters has a stunning art style and it’s generally a gorgeous game with many breathtaking sights to behold, and characters are wonderfully designed. A smorgasbord of colours threatens to overwhelm you but, thankfully, they’re not overdone and reflect their respective worlds well. The world of Stark is more industrial with plenty of rain, blues, reds and graffiti, whilst Arcadia is imbued with magic, soft orange glows from lamps and homely, old-fashioned buildings. It’s a beautiful game with solid character models and facial animations, and its visuals lend itself to its story-book like tale.

Voice-acting is solid with Charlotte Ritchie providing an excellent performance for Zoe — funny, feisty and emotive, she had me laughing quite a few times. It’s great to see that voice-acting in Dreamfall Chapters is so good considering how character-driven the game is, and its soundtrack aids its eye-catching visuals in providing the right atmosphere. My copy came with a downloadable soundtrack too so that’s a pleasant surprise!

Dreamfall Chapters tells an intriguing story that balances several characters and their own personal stories admirably. It’s neither too heavy-handed or cluttered, and it’s well-paced with an ending that should satisfy fans of the series. I’m encouraged to play the first two games in the series and can only express disappointment that they’re also not on PS4, especially as this would’ve been the perfect time to port them. Never-the-less you can enjoy Dreamfall Chapters without the other games, but you might be a tad confused sometimes. Zoe has been a wonderful protagonist, and I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of her.

]]>18798Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/cladun-returns-sengoku-ps4
Thu, 08 Jun 2017 21:51:10 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=18647Cladun may be returning alright but this is my first meeting with the series considering I never played the original PSP game back in 2010. Playing This is Sengoku! on PS4, […]

]]>Cladun may be returning alright but this is my first meeting with the series considering I never played the original PSP game back in 2010. Playing This is Sengoku! on PS4, I’m finding myself having a lot of fun with its brief, but many, levels which make it great for both short and long bursts.

This is certainly a game that’s a perfect fit for Vita too but alas, I have to sit in my room in my Cladun cosplay as I journey through the world of Arcanus Cella. Your character, who you create, wakes up to find out that they’re dead — not the best thing to wake up to, I’d imagine. Other souls come and go but some are missing their bodies and memories, and they aren’t able to properly pass on. It turns out that there’s a bit of an issue sending a soul onwards, and it’s up to you to traverse the dungeons as you unravel the mysteries of Arcanus Cella and solve the souls’ quests.

Each chapter has no less than five stages with many being able to be cleared within a minute, but they shouldn’t take you more than a small handful of minutes at most anyway — there’s room to explore, but if you’re only heading for the goal then you’ll be clearing them super quickly. The stages are not procedurally generated like many other similar games to this are, and you’re encouraged to revisit stages to reach a faster clear time — watch out for the various dangerous traps, of course.

You can do simple attacks, guard, run, jump and slide, and battles are simple — you should aim to attack an enemy from the side of behind to inflict more damage, as there aren’t a whole lot of gameplay options available to you otherwise. You can easily be floored by an enemy when attacked head on but you’ll want to battle to earn money because some items are so damn expensive! Equipment to increase your base stats won’t run you dry, but buying things to increase your health will cost you a pretty penny that’ll wound you every time.

You’ll also want to pay attention to the Magic Circle mechanic where you can create team members with their own stats and abilities. You can play as these characters or add them to your party as extra health, and you can equip items to them so that they’re more resilient — your main character will only take damage once these characters have fallen in battle. This adds a nice layer of strategy to the game and it becomes vital in later stages and against bosses, especially as you alone will never be overflowing with HP. It’s great to be able to switch between classes and utilise different weapons and abilities too.

Cladun Returns is inspired by retro games which is clear in its pixelated visuals and four directional gameplay. The sprite work is crisp and fluid – something which can be easily appreciated – and it looks wonderful in motion. You know what doesn’t look nearly as wonderful? The massive spiders you have to fight, but that’s mostly because of my disdain for the eight-legged menace. You’ll travel to real-world locations based on the feudal Japan period, and in general it’s a rather pretty game. There’s a small pool of customisation options to play with but I enjoyed creating characters and changing their hair colour and the like.

A cool feature is that you can turn off the black lines that go around all characters, switch from modern to retro music and use smooth text or more retro text. Whilst these don’t change the game in any meaningful way, it’s nice to have the option to customise the game in its entirety to some degree — I personally opted for modern music and text. There’s no voice-acting other than a few sound bites, and you’ll mostly have the music and sound effects to keep you company.

Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! is something I found myself enjoying a lot, despite getting my arse handed to me more than a few times. The stages may be short but there’s plenty to do, and there’s quite a lot of depth to a game that’s so simple on the surface. Undeniably a very niche title, Cladun’s return will likely be an overlooked one but it’s a fun game that may surprise you with how addicting it is. I may have played it on PS4 but I feel that this game is a perfect fit for Vita, and it’s worth a go at the very least.

]]>18647Syberia 3 (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/syberia-3-ps4
Tue, 06 Jun 2017 22:01:24 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=18058I never played the other Syberia games but I guess that developer Microids realised that many people would be playing Syberia 3 without experience with the others, and so I didn’t […]

]]>I never played the other Syberia games but I guess that developer Microids realised that many people would be playing Syberia 3 without experience with the others, and so I didn’t feel like I was particularly lost — well, a brief look online helps, and I’m surprised that there isn’t much in the way of a recap considering how long it’s been since Syberia 2 released. A slew of technical issues and clunky controls makes for a bit of a frustrating experience though.

Waking up after her boat crashes, Kate Walker is rescued by the people of Youkol Village. Realising that they’re both being threatened by the same people, they decide to work together as they escape whilst taking part in a strange tradition — they accompany their snow ostriches as they migrate for the Winter. Their journey takes them through a variety of interesting places as they solve mysteries and evade their pursuers, but I can’t imagine that this is quite what fans waited for. The Youkol have clearly been waiting though, as they’re seemingly unable to do a whole lot with Kate’s help.

For a game that’s all exploration and point and click, Syberia 3 struggles to run at any acceptable rate — there’s framerate issues which cannot be ignored, and the severity of them were difficult to lay eyes on at times. Kate would sometimes not take action when I pressed a button input, such as to open a door, and she would just stand there until the action finally registered. The camera angle can be a right pain too, leaving you without clear direction as you fight against it to get to where you want to be — one too many times I found myself transferring between two different set camera angles due to the controls changing between the frames. The camera pains become even more apparent when you’re solving one of the game’s many puzzles, as you’re required to do more than a little navigating.

However, I do like the ability to be able to listen to Kate’s thoughts when answering some questions, which help you to make a decision which will pan out for you best.Conversation otherwise doesn’t do much other than throw information at you, leaving little for character development. Syberia 3 is a frustrating experience to say the least, and fans didn’t wait thirteen years for something that’s broken in more ways than one.

Syberia 3 has a nice, lightly cel-shaded art style that gives it a cartoony look, and it fits the general click and point gameplay. The facial animations aren’t quite as nice with mouths that stretch unnaturally far, dead eyes, and stiff reactions during conversation — sometimes animations freeze entirely as the dialogue continues on. The frame rate issue doesn’t help its cause and Syberia 3 comes across as a budget game – which I’m sure it is – that only the die-hard fans will want to see through.

Voice-acting is decent if not awkward and over-acted at times, and it’s one of two aspects that betrays the overall poor quality of the game despite the script being a bit cringe-worthy at times. The game’s soundtrack is also pretty good — it aids the atmosphere of Syberia 3, even if the rest of the game doesn’t care so much for it.

Syberia 3 is rough around the edges and with more time and polish, maybe it would’ve been a far better game — it certainly has the potential to be! Syberia 3’s many mysteries and characters might push you through to see it to the end, but the various gameplay issues make it a lot more work than it rightfully should be — even with patches it still seems to run disastrously. If you’re a fan of the other Syberia games then Syberia 3 might have more to offer you, but otherwise it’s not something I’d recommend. There’s good to be found underneath all of its flaws, but getting to them is Syberia 3’s biggest challenge.

]]>18058The Silver Case (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/06/silver-case-ps4
Sun, 04 Jun 2017 19:29:15 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=13238The Silver Case is famed creator Suda 51’s first game and, along with its PC port release late last year, this is the first time it’s ever been playable in […]

]]>The Silver Case is famed creator Suda 51’s first game and, along with its PC port release late last year, this is the first time it’s ever been playable in English. Was it worth the almost two decade wait? Yes, because The Silver Case is clever, alluring and exceedingly well-written — it’s not an ordinary journey, and it isn’t one that you’ll soon forget.

The Silver Case takes place in 1999, in a fictional city called “24 Wards” where recently murders have been occurring frequently in weird, bizarre ways. You follow detectives Sumio Kodai and Tetsugoro Kusabi, who work in the Heinous Crimes Unit, as they try to locate mass murderer Kamui Uehara who was recently hospitalised and thought to be harmless. One night when Kusabi is driving home, a murderer intercepts him whilst holding a decapitated head and tries to shoot him, and so he and the local precinct take chase. The character you play as is a part of this squad where you face your first real mission which just happens to be absolutely terrifying, and from there it’s hard to put The Silver Case down.

Another story, known as Placebo, runs parallel but focuses on freelance journalist Tokio Morishima who’s asked to cover the Kamui events. Progressing in the Transmission route unlocks more in the Placebo route, and both come together to fill in the blanks to reveal the overall plot. There are two new chapters which wrap things up and leave room for a proper sequel (there was one on mobile phones in Japan, and Suda 51 has been teasing this recently for a Western release) as there were complaints previously about the game lacking closure — this version really is the definitive version of the game.

Primarily a visual novel, The Silver Case is well-written and will leave you wanting more like it but alas, who knows if that’ll ever happen? What The Silver Case does differently is that, as a detective, you’re also able to walk around and inspect environments and objects. It can be a bit clumsy at first but once you’ve spent an hour or so with it, you’ll find yourself easily navigating with no issues at all. This can be quite nerve-wracking when you know something bad is going to happen — there was once a shadow from above, and I did not want to look at what it could be. Although, I had to in the end…

The Silver Case opts for more realistic portraits rather than anime ones, befitting of the games serious and gritty nature and boy does it look great! It frightened me at times, made me feel regularly uncomfortable at others and had a generally claustrophobic, intense atmosphere — some brief live-action scenes blend well into the realistic cases presented too. The work done to it in the remaster is welcomed and although some of the 3D sections are clearly dated, the artwork stands up strong and overall it’s still a stylish game you shouldn’t miss out on. There’s no voice-acting apart from some shrill screams and other ambient sounds, but the music is perfect for The Silver Case and I can see myself returning to the soundtrack time and time again. What I love most about the audio though is the typewriter/heavy keyboard sound used for when the text appears — it’s absolutely lovely.

I’m happy to have finally played The Silver Case and if you’re a visual novel fan or a fan of good stories then you should definitely give it a go — it’s an engaging experience from start to end, and it feeds you just enough information to keep you going without it feeling fruitless. Suda 51 has a knack for telling unique, strange stories and The Silver Case is his first, and not every developer gets to have such a stunning game as their first professional creation. The Silver Case might be slept on due to how niche it is, but it’ll go down as one of the rare, hidden gems available in gaming, and you’ll want to say that you’ve played it.

]]>13238Injustice 2 – NetherRealm’s Best Fighter Yet (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/05/injustice-2-netherrealms-best-fighter-yet-ps4
Wed, 31 May 2017 12:37:46 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=16849Injustice: Gods Among Us was a competent fighter. A good fighter. But not only did I never click with a character to main, Injustice also happened to be a fairy […]

]]>Injustice: Gods Among Us was a competent fighter. A good fighter. But not only did I never click with a character to main, Injustice also happened to be a fairy ugly game. Injustice 2 has taken what was good about its predecessor and improved upon it, creating one of the best fighting games I’ve played — and you can’t not mention how amazing those facial animations are!

NetherRealm have been experimenting with story modes in fighting games for a while now, and with great success. Injustice 2 is easily their best featuring a cinematic, blockbuster campaign which wouldn’t go amiss as a movie, and it’s a blast to play through. NetherRealm’s understanding of these superpowered heroes and villains is remarkable, and seeing them come to life and interacting with one another is wonderful — the unique lines at the start of each fight tend to be witty and funny, and the Injustice story in general is one of DC’s finest — enough so that it’s enticed me to buy and read the comics too.

After the events of Injustice: Gods Among Us, Superman has been captured and detained and Batman and friends try to bring peace back to the world. The heroes of this world have their hands full when Gorilla Grodd and The Society appear to take over the world, though. It’s engaging and exciting, and paves the way for some fan-favourite fights. The combat is a big step up from the first game too with it feeling far more fluid, with more characters to play with and returning characters being polished and left feeling fresh — the likes of Wonder Woman, Flash and Harley Quinn are much more enjoyable to play here than they were before.

Injustice 2 mixes hand-to-hand combat, super powers and environmental hazards for explosive action befitting the superheroes involved — the stage transitions are impressive, and so is each character’s super move which tend to be grand in scale. There’s a lot of depth in the gameplay mechanics but it’s also one of the more accessible fighters on the market due to the simplicity of its move inputs. Of course, you still need to put the practice in as you won’t immediately learn a character, but a small handful of special moves per characters prevents learning them from bogging you down. Before long you’ll be pulling off stylish moves as you’d expect from your favourite DC characters, and it’s incredible.

Injustice 2 has one of the best uses of loot boxes across gaming too. Spending an hour or so playing games to level up and unlock a box? No. Injustice 2 doesn’t want to keep you waiting, and it’s easy to earn a multitude of loot boxes very quickly. You can get them from fighting or buying them with in-game credits you’ve earned, but the best way to earn them is to make use of the Multiverse. The Multiverse has a bunch of timed events that refresh and completing them rewards you with boxes, gear and credits, and there are even mini-challenges to let you earn even more! You’re never left in a lull and you’re constantly earning loot boxes, and it’s exciting — you won’t collect everything so quickly either as there are hundreds of different gear pieces and colour shaders to unlock.

This brings me into the gear system which is another new addition to Injustice 2. Each character has a large variety of gear unique to them, and each comes with their own stats that change strength, defence and more — you can play with characters in their default states online though, so don’t worry too much about gear differences. A characters aesthetic can change greatly depending on their gear and it’s easy to get addicting to collecting loot — thankfully it’s so easy to do! The gear system could’ve easily thrown Injustice 2 into chaos but NetherRealm have tackled it with care, and it’s a great addition which I greatly enjoy.

If you’ve seen Injustice 2 then you’ve likely noted how fantastic its facial animation is — it’s hard to imagine that this is the work of the same company who created Injustice: Gods Among Us which wasn’t a particularly great looking game. Injustice 2 boasts some of the most impressive facial animations and special effects in gaming, and they look incredibly realistic at times. A beautiful game with detailed character models, creative arenas and a smooth framerate makes for a stunning game which other fighters will be clamouring to surpass, and its a technical marvel.

Mark Hamill might not reprise his role as the Joker, but Kevin Conroy is the definitive Batman once again and puts on another outstanding performance as the Caped Crusader. The voice-acting in general is high quality with no one putting in a weak performance, and each voice-actor and actress brings their respective characters wonderfully to life. Injustice 2’s orchestral soundtrack fits the DC universe, providing amped tunes for battle and matching the epic scale of the games story.

Injustice 2 is amongst the best fighters I’ve ever played, and I think it’ll live a long, healthy life in both the casual and competitive scene. An immense amount of single player and multiplayer content, a generally stable netcode and a variety of characters to play and gear to unlock keep you coming back for more, and you won’t hear me complaining about that! Enjoyable, solid and visually gorgeous, Injustice 2 is NetherRealm’s best work yet and I’m excited to see how they’ll top it in Injustice 3 — assuming they make another sequel, of course. It’s performing well and it certain deserves it, so here’s hoping the brilliant Injustice series continues.

]]>16849Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy (Vita)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/05/operation-babel-new-tokyo-legacy-vita
Wed, 24 May 2017 21:39:36 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=13945I severely disliked Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy and its sequel is no better, and I’m surprised it got a sequel at all — it’s no Demon Gaze and that’s […]

]]>I severely disliked Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy and its sequel is no better, and I’m surprised it got a sequel at all — it’s no Demon Gaze and that’s without a sequel! Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy is a mind-numbingly dull adventure which takes itself too seriously, with finicky controls and an uninspired story.

Operation Babel is a direct sequel that briefly mentions events from the game, but if you haven’t played it then you’ll be thoroughly lost — not that it matters, as the story doesn’t attempt to grab your attention anyway, and acts as a vehicle for more dungeon-crawling. A threat known as the ‘Embryo’ has appeared and with it monsters and as part of the Xth Squad, it’s up to you to defeat these threats. You create your own team and characters from Operation Abyss pop up every now and then, so if you’re a fan of those then you’ll likely be happy with their appearances. It likes to do a good info-dump on instructions, terminology and when conversations strike, but it’s a lot to take in and becomes dull quickly.

It’s a first-person dungeon-crawler and it’s cool being able to create your own character with options on how they look, their stats and class (and a sub-class), and their voice and personality. Custom characters don’t look quite as good as the portraits provided though, and arranging your party’s order is a pain. Navigating is easy but expect to bump into several walls as you explore the dungeons, and to be accosted by monsters regularly. Everything feels a little more complex than it needs to be and its controls don’t make things any easier.

You pick from a list of commands for your party of six and away you go! You have a front line and a back line, and ranged and magic characters should go in the back whilst defensive and offensive characters should go in the front. This adds a nice layer of strategy in the game that I enjoy, but it’s frustrating when it can be a little vague as some characters who go in the back should rightly go in the front — I’ve never been more frustrated setting up a team and their formation. It’s so backwards! It can be pretty difficult regardless of difficulty, which is made worse by you having to return to base to level up, enhance equipment and heal and revive fallen party members which means you’ll constantly be in and out of dungeons.

2D static portraits are used for characters and monsters and whilst some of their designs are pretty cool, I grew tired of them soon after starting — many games use more dynamic images now, and this looks a little dated in comparison, especially on Vita. The 3D dungeons are pretty bland and repetitive, although each one is different. All voice-acting is in Japanese and I have nothing to complain about, and the music is fine but unmemorable.

Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy isn’t a good game and whilst its mechanics are solid, it’s just not fun. I’m hoping that there won’t be a third one and that developer Experience Inc.’s talents will be used elsewhere, because the world of the New Tokyo Legacy series simply isn’t interesting. It might look pretty and will run you for a lot of hours if you do enjoy it, but in general you’re best off spending your money on one of the various other, and far better, dungeon-crawlers available on Vita.

]]>Reviewing a PS2 game in 2017? As a big Resident Evil fan I, along with everyone else, questioned why this wasn’t the PS3 remaster but instead a straight up PS2 classic but at the end of the day, the game is just as good as it’s ever been and it’s another title in the series to add to the PS4 collection.

Set three years after the events of Resident Evil 2, Code Veronica follows Claire Redfield as she searches for her brother Chris. Both are involved in the fight against bioterrorist corporation Umbrella with Claire trapped on Rockfort Island, where she’s unexpectedly set free due to an equally unexpected zombie outbreak — well, I’m not so sure it’s unexpected for any of them at this point! Your first playthrough can run you a good 12-15 hours, whereas subsequent playthroughs if you remember puzzle solutions and where to go might only take a couple of hours — as always, the series is great for speed-running, and it’s thrilling each time.

With the release of the Resident Evil 0 and 1 remasters, it’s difficult to not want all of the older to be recreated in the same way. Sadly, Code Veronica keeps the series’ traditional tank controls where headshots are down to luck rather than skill, and the camera will do its best to throw you into unseen dangers. This isn’t to say that the game plays badly but it does feel dated, and it’s notable when compared to the other Resident Evil games on PS4. Once you’ve eased into the games unique groove then you’ll find yourself breezing through, although some of the puzzles and backtracking might halt you for a bit. And as annoying as it is, I still love Resident Evil’s item management system, although I do dislike having to search for a safe room so I can exchange items — it’s an understatement to say I get lost a few times!

Code Veronica may be in 4:3 ratio only (yes, that means black borders) but it certainly looks more crisp and detailed thanks to extra work which Capcom put into it — there’s even a Platinum trophy to earn! I’m always blown away by how good a PS2 game can look when ported to PS4, and it feels a lot smoother too due to its increased framerate. I’m not sure if this or the PS3 remaster would be considered the definitive version of Code Veronica, but if you don’t want to revisit your PS3 then you definitely can’t go wrong with picking up the PS2 Classic on PS4. Its voice-acting is laughably awful but it has its own charm which I wouldn’t want changed, although the Resident Evil series has come a long way since Code Veronica. Overacted and generally unnatural, Code Veronica’s voice-acting will crack you up, but at least it doesn’t detract from the overall experience — if anything, it’s a vital part of it.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica is showing its age and it’s a shame that it hasn’t received alternate controls to make it feel a little less dated, but it’s still a brilliant PS2 game which is great to have on PS4. I’m unsure as to why they didn’t just port the PS3 remaster over but having played both, I’m pleased with this PS2 Classic and the inclusion of a proper trophy list is nice. At only £11.99, you can play one of the best games on PS2 and a very important title in the Resident Evil series, despite it not being a main numbered entry. I’m now hoping for the Umbrella and Darkside Chronicles games to make their way over, along with the Outbreak games!

]]>14240Birthdays the Beginning (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/05/birthdays-beginning-ps4
Sun, 14 May 2017 12:27:58 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=13237Birthdays the Beginning is the latest title by Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada and focuses on bringing life to a new, mysterious world. When your character enters a cave and finds […]

]]>Birthdays the Beginning is the latest title by Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada and focuses on bringing life to a new, mysterious world. When your character enters a cave and finds a small cube and a creature he’s never laid eyes on before, he’s whisked away to their world to become its creator.

There isn’t much in the way of story as you tackle the games campaign mode, where you’re tasked to introduce specific forms of life, maintain temperatures and more to create a thriving world, with each creature having unique requirements. Whether it’s changing the terrain, making areas more or less moist or creating food for animals to eat, there’s plenty you’ll need to do to maintain life. Animals go extinct if not properly taken care of and whilst it’s certainly a big info-dump at the start, it’s easier to come to grips with than I had expected. You don’t have very long though because between the games four chapters, it doesn’t take very long to reach the end.

Each chapter will give you an overall goal to reach such as chapter two tasking you to give life to dinosaurs — maybe they won’t go extinct this time! It’s not particularly exciting and really most of your time will be spent waiting to see what creature will spawn next, or fiddling around with vague instructions on how to achieve specific requirements to specific creatures — sometimes you’ll have to force a race to extinction so that another can thrive, leaving you with a little less freedom than you may like — you do unlock Free Mode later on though, so you can do whatever you’d like.

The controls can be a tad awkward to use, specifically in first-person, and the cameras controls are inverted without option to change them — definitely not my favourite way to play games and it made for a frustrating experience. I’m unsure as to how the option isn’t there and it’s a strange oversight — I just want my camera to go right when I steer right, you know? The control scheme in general is cumbersome and will inevitably lead to a few mistakes which are equally as painful to undo, and they continue to feel clunky regardless of how much time you clock in.

Visually it’s very animated, cute and simple, with a unique art style and plenty of charm. A few animals or plants of each race will appear in the cube, despite having thousands of them actually being alive, to prevent things from being too cluttered — it’s a world of colour with cartoony creatures just doing their business, and it’s rather peaceful when they aren’t going extinct. You zoom out and wait as the years quickly go by and more lifeforms are given birth to, and you zoom back in to modify the terrain — it’s a lot of waiting around rather than engaging. The cube stops the game from being too big and instead it’s contained and manageable, and along with the gameplay this becomes repetitive relatively quickly. There’s very little in the way of audio whether it’s audio or dialogue — if anything, Birthdays the Beginning is primarily sound effects.

Birthdays the Beginning is creative but it’s hard to recommend — it’s nothing quite like Harvest Moon, so don’t go in expecting something along those lines. Repetition doesn’t take long to set in and the campaign is only a handful of hours long, leaving you with very little content. Sure there’s Free Mode, but unless you’re really, really having a blasting with the game then chances are you won’t bother with it too much past the campaign, but there is replayability in stars you earn on each chapter — again though, you have to really care about this because overall it makes no difference. Birthdays the Beginning is a unique game for the PS4, but one that I can’t see myself returning to. If there’s a sequel then hopefully the cool concepts set up here are put to better use.

]]>13237Sam’s Thinking about Overhypinghttp://ps4attitude.com/opinion/2017/05/sams-thinking-overhyping
Sat, 13 May 2017 23:01:36 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=13298A few nights ago, Stefan and I decided to trawl through his collection of games. The challenge? To find a game I have never played. Turns out this challenge was […]

]]>A few nights ago, Stefan and I decided to trawl through his collection of games. The challenge? To find a game I have never played. Turns out this challenge was as simple as a fetch quest in an RPG. I’ve had a lot of games pass me by in the PS4 era, which we currently live in. It’s no surprise really, as I tend to play one game for a long time. I played almost nothing but Black Ops III, shamefully enough, until May of 2016. My game time in Skyrim, at 450 hours, makes you wonder why I named the remaster as my GOTY 2016.

After a short search we had a few games. The Evil Within was played, in which I learned that, like the butterfly creating Until Dawn, I don’t handle the horror genre very well. It’s not the gore, but jump scares that make my heart beat like a DeadMau5 tune. To be honest, The Evil Within was more boring than anything else.

With Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, I learned that a simple parkour game could be addictive, especially when done correctly. Unlike, however, the rehash of Dead Island, which you will find in the unimaginative Dying Light; a game that made me want to burn my PS4, and never pick my DualShock up again. Meanwhile, The Order: 1886 was mentioned. I had previously thought it wasn’t very good; at least, that was my impression. Stefan informed me that it was just ‘overhyped’. This got me thinking about all the games that have been overhyped, and the ones that have been overlooked.

When the PS4 was announced, there was one game that we all wanted. Its E3 demo looked amazing, while its gameplay looked like a modern Chicago-based Assassin’s creed. Put simply, Watch Dogs raised its own bar too high. Upon release, it had a solid story, fun minigames and an open world with much to be explored. However, it wasn’t perfect. The driving seemed disconnected and weak, and the multiplayer was often annoying. I’m sorry, Ubisoft, but I don’t want Bob from Kentucky trying to kill me while I’m casually reading about the lives – albeit in a creepy manner – of passers-by. Its imperfections, like a Haitian Olympian, made it fall at the first hurdle.

At the end of the year, we will see the release of the San Fran-based Watch Dogs 2. A game that has seen the whole world scream ‘Wait, what? They are making a second one of those?’ To all of you, I give this guarantee: Watch Dogs 2 will be considered a good game. Everyone expecting nothing is bound to find so much more.

The flipside, of course, is the pleasant surprise of playing a game that had passed you by, perhaps that most people have never even heard of. The Talos Principle is a great example. Imagine Portal, but less humorous, more serious and strangely philosophical. You’re now imagining The Talos Principle; a puzzle game with a steep learning curve and glorious visuals. I implore you all to pick up a copy.

I must return to the worry I have; the worry that has developed whenever I think of overhyping a certain orange, jean short and trainer wearing friend of us all. He helped us with our escapism; together, we’ve journeyed into Egyptian tombs and medieval towns, and raced a polar bear down a mountain path. Crash Bandicoot was the first game I ever played. The original trilogy, Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash, The Wrath of Cortex, Twinsanity and Crash Nitro Kart all formed my childhood. My PS1 was almost exclusively used for Crash’s and Spyro’s adventures. I fell in love, as we all did, with Crash’s ahead-of-its-time visuals, simple idea and challenging levels. Trying to secure platinum relics on every level was possibly the biggest failure of my childhood. Our night of gaming ended with two grown men playing Crash Bash, finding it too difficult, and swiftly moving onto Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped; and it was glorious. The game had lost none of its charm, but I must confess that it was a lot harder than I remember (but still not as rage-inducing as Crash Bash!).

I am worried that in his almost godlike stature, Crash has nowhere to go but down. His return is already half here ; firstly, in the Skylanders universe, along with his large-headed yellow foe, Dr. Neo Cortex. Then, to top it all, the original trilogy will be flying back into our world. If I have only one piece of advice when you think of these games, it’s this: don’t overhype it. Think of Crash with nostalgia and love. Reminiscence is perfect, but if we expect too much from Crash’s return, then I fear he will finally run out of 64-bit lives, with no hundredth Wumpa fruit in sight.

Let us all wait patiently for his return, and love it when it arrives, without hoping for more than we should. I want Crash to be back forever; when I have kids, I want them to be introduced to gaming via N. Sanity Beach and Cortex Castle. I want my son to fall for Crash’s idiocy and lovable nature. I want my daughter to fall for Coco’s laid back approach and can-do attitude.

]]>Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ follows our heroine, Kazuha, who is sucked into the online RPG “Arcadia” to find her brother who’s gone missing. Trapped in a world with Hiroya, her childhood friend, they find that they’re being forced to clear the game to be able to return to the real world. You guessed it, if they die in-game then they die in the real world, too.

Kazuha is mostly a self-insert character and it’s hard not to feel as if she’s being walked over by some of the guys in the game, but otherwise she just wants the best for everyone — she’s also the most powerful weapon in the game, but has never played a game before so you’ve got to feel pretty bad for the poor heroine. The story plods along nicely but being an Otome game, romance is a big focus and you’ll have plenty of bachelors to choose from. Some of the men are definitely a tad too aggressive — I can apply elixir myself Astrum, you massive pervert! In the end I couldn’t really bring myself to hate anyone other than Dementos though, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Period: Cube. Be warned though, you might want a guide if you want to end up on a specific characters route as it can be pretty vague — I ended up on one I didn’t one at least, and thought the options I chose were to push them away but alas, that’s how the cookie crumbles…

Arcadia is clearly supposed to be an MMO and the game helpfully explains each term you might not know in its tips, and Kazuha isn’t a gamer so this is a good chance to have its world explained. I like the effort put into the world and that it did well in depicting an MMO, with an interesting backstory that I wish was fleshed out a little bit more. Being a visual novel you expect to be reading a lot and making decisions, but one cool thing that Period: Cube does that’s unique is allowing you to make choices in battle — sadly, this is rarely used and is just another decision to make that has an effect on which route you’ll end up on.

Wonderful Japanese artist Kuyoyuki worked as a character designer and artist on Period: Cube, and it’s undeniably a gorgeous game. Character designs are elegant and creative, making the most of the angel and demon teams in Arcadia — one glance still tells you it’s an Otome game, though! It’s colourful and sticks to 2D art, and its CG images make for some great Vita wallpapers. Considering that the visuals are unsurprisingly important to a visual novel (of course, they don’t make a good game on their own), Period: Cube thankfully manages to be pleasant and a feast for the eyes. The Japanese voice-acting is excellent and the only option available, and its whimsical music is a joy to listen to — I’ve no idea what the name is, but there’s on recurring piano piece which I love, and the ending theme is mesmerising. Vocalists Yura Mari and Joelle have stunning voices.

Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ is yet another engaging Otome visual novel on Vita, and one that is easy to recommend if you’re already into the genre. Otome games are aimed primarily at women but if you’re male, you shouldn’t let you put this off, even if you buy it once it’s on sale. The likes of Idea Factory International and Aksys Game are absolutely killing it right now in terms of Otome localisations, and they’ve got plenty more lined up for release. I know I’ll be supporting them.

]]>13130Human Fall Flat (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/05/human-fall-flat-ps4
Thu, 11 May 2017 22:07:25 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=13144As the great philosopher of our time, David Brent, once said, “You’ve charmed me”. Human Fall Flat has done exactly that. The game may lack a touch of polish, but […]

]]>As the great philosopher of our time, David Brent, once said, “You’ve charmed me”. Human Fall Flat has done exactly that. The game may lack a touch of polish, but that never stopped shoes doing their job. Fall Flat has this amazing ability of being effortlessly casual, whilst still being pleasingly challenging.

So who are you? You are Bob, and your aim is to make your way through each area, ensuring you only fall flat at the right time. Bob is completely customisable, from skin colour to headwear, with a choice of preset outfits. It was not a facility I used, but it was nice to know that if I wanted to, I could.

From a mansion, train crash, construction yard and more, you will find puzzles full of breakables, levers and climbing challenges. (We’ll get back to the climbing later.) The puzzles will slowly teach you what can be broken by what, how far you can jump, and just how much your arms can grip on to. It’s a learning curve, but one that you should welcome.

Climbing can be difficult as it requires you to be a master of your DualShock. You must raise your arms above your head and quickly lower them as you make contact with the ledge. Execute it and you will satisfyingly elevate. Fail and you will fall limply, either in a heap on the floor or off the map. Do the latter, and you will respawn by falling flat at your last checkpoint. My advice is to understand that you will mess up often during the game. It will frustrate and motivate in equal measure.

The art style is similar to Gang Beasts. It is less colourful than that game though, with many tones of white and grey. This offers a minimalist feel which charms and can’t possibly offend.

Each stage starts off very tame, with a few simple presses of some wall mounted buttons and you’re home. They quickly descend into madness, with wrecking balls and smashed glass getting involved. These puzzles are so varied and feature a minimalist tutorial, and they become extremely fun and engaging.

The general idea is simple enough, but the control scheme and mechanics is where Human Fall Flat becomes a harder prospect. Bob’s entire body seems to represent the arm of Harry Potter after a medical visit from Professor Lockhart. (Kudos if you get that reference.) It could be argued that they were designed purely for humour, but I’d rebut that by saying there is nothing wrong with adding entertainment and difficulty.

The game only contains nine dreamlike, sky moated islands. They are each themed, giving the game a fresh look every time. The full-bodied trophy list adds replay value, as does the knowledge that, on the second playthrough, you will have mastered the controls. Well, at least be competent.

The music is calming and, when you’ve missed a jump for the thirtieth time, can be seen as an oasis in the desert of self-induced frustration. The sounds in general can be given no fault, as they are fantastically suitable with a soothing score. Admittedly, there are smatterings of narration that reminds me of The Witness. They are not needed and don’t really add much, so I believe the game would be marginally better without them. However, to say they are game-ruining, would not be true. In all honesty, I mention them only because I was forcing myself to find fault.

Many other reviewers have slated the game, but I see the faults they comment on as part of the charm. Namely, the controls and simple art style. The only thing I wish for is a co-op mode that replicates Portal, in that it includes challenges that can only be completed with two players. The current form simply allows another friend to get involved. This is certainly enjoyable, but now that I have a taste for Human Fall Flat, I want more.

Human Fall Flat is the most wonderfully charismatic puzzler I’ve played for a long time. It was more pleasurable than The Witness and far less frustrating. The only physics puzzler I’ve enjoyed more that I can recall would be Portal 2, which is of course in a league all of its own.

]]>13144Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds (Vita)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/05/hakuoki-kyoto-winds-vita
Mon, 08 May 2017 16:53:13 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12614Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is the definitive way to experience the series with a remastered telling of the main game, along with new routes, episodes, romances and characters. This is one […]

]]>Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is the definitive way to experience the series with a remastered telling of the main game, along with new routes, episodes, romances and characters. This is one of the most popular and recognisable Otome games around, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it on Vita.

And I mean it — Hakuoki kept me up until the early hours on several occasions but I found it hard to tear myself away from Chizuru trying to find her missing father, and the Shinsengumi (a group of samurai) who are trying to help her. Chizuru is originally held hostage by them as she finds members of their group killing rogue samurai late at night, and she sees something which she’s not meant to see. Once they realise they’re all looking for the same man, they agree to work together.

With twelve men to pick from, there’s more romance opportunities than ever with this version of Hakuoki. Some men are easy to not want to date, whilst some others are far more lovely and I enjoyed debating with myself as to who I should pair Chizuru with. There’s an option to turn the romance aspect off completely if you’re not into that though, and you can focus solely on the story. You’d be excused for thinking this would be a fluff story after hearing about the romance options and due to its visuals, but it tells a pretty gruesome, tense tale where I wanted to know what would happen next. There’s plenty of upbeat moments too, and it being set in the 1860’s makes for quite a nice change.

Being a visual novel you’ll mostly be reading and learning about things at the same time that Chizuru does — thankfully, its translation is great and the game itself is rather hard to put down! There are a few times when you’ll be prompted to make a decision between several choices (you can rewind if you change your mind or want to test your options), and these affect your relationship with specific characters. Chances are if you’re interested in Hakuoki then you already know what you’re getting into — I played a little bit of it when it released on PS3, but I’m enjoying my time more with the series on Vita. Maybe it’s because I’m more familiar with Otome games now — they may be aimed at women, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying them!

One glance tells you it’s an Otome game as regardless of who animates and designs them, they all have a very specific way of appealing to those who like Otome. Sharp facial features and eyes are staple for Otome games, and you’ll be gazing into many pairs of eyes if you decide to romance someone. Hakuoki is an undeniably gorgeous game with soft colours, wonderful 2D art and superb character design. I’m fond of the games environments and history, and although it’s impossible to be fully accurate in its depiction (especially with its supernatural elements), it’s still visually pleasing and takes you to a time long since gone. It gets a bit bloody which is to be expected of fighting samurai but there’s no visceral gore.

Only the original Japanese voice-over is available with much of the dialogue being voiced, and action scenes come complete with sound effects of swords clashing and blood splatter — it can be a tad horrific! A mix of wind and string instruments and pianos make up the games soundtrack, once again befitting of the games journey through history and its many events. Japanese influence is clear in its music, and it makes for a perfect backdrop for the games setting.

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is an engaging visual novel which I enjoyed more than I thought I would, especially as I wasn’t too engrossed when I played it on PS3. I’ve clearly become more knowledgeable regarding Otome games and my tastes have slightly changed, and now Hakuoki has proven to grip my attention far better than its first attempt. If you’re looking for a solid visual novel, have an interest in Otome games or want something that has a historical Japanese theme, then you’d do well in giving Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds a go.

]]>12614Sam’s Thinking about Call of Duty: WWIIhttp://ps4attitude.com/opinion/2017/05/sams-thinking-call-duty-ww2
Sun, 07 May 2017 21:41:10 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12777This week I’m thinking about Call of Duty: WWII, and whether or not I should be spending my hard earned cash on what it’s offering. I was a massive fan […]

]]>This week I’m thinking about Call of Duty: WWII, and whether or not I should be spending my hard earned cash on what it’s offering. I was a massive fan of the Modern Warfare series. I fell for Soap and Price and their story. I was a lover of the multiplayer on the original Black Ops, reaching Prestige 3. Zombies have always been extremely entertaining, from Black Ops through to Advanced Warfare.

The Call of Duty series is a never-ending cycle. Buy New Game, Play New Game, Get Bored of New Game, Play DLC, Get More Bored of DLC, New Game Announced, Get Bored Totally of Old Game, Buy New Game. I thought I escaped the cycle after MW3, but alas, no.

The campaign last time from Sledgehammer, in Advanced Warfare, was solid. Kevin Spacey as the Underwood-esque maniac was engaging, with gameplay that was not boring and seemed to find new life in the classic game which had been in danger of becoming stale. In my opinion, this was one of the last great single player offerings from COD. Black Ops 3 wasn’t bad, but didn’t quite hit the recent zenith of AW. So that’s Pros 1, Cons 0.

I have to say that Zombies has been very disappointing of late. Black Ops 3 offered an experience that created awesome moments and powerful weapons, but it meant that you couldn’t really enjoy it regularly. You felt that you had to make time, prepare mentally, google how to earn the wolf bow before you could log in and play. Once more, I must say that the last instalment of the series with a zombie experience that I truly loved was created by Sledgehammer.

The Zombies linked seamlessly with the survival mode. This shocked and amazed my friend and I. We had given ourselves that challenge of reaching round 30 on all the maps. Little did we know that the last one had such a lovable and awe-inspiring end. The new Zombies will be returning to a WW2 setting, no Richtofen in sight. It’s not Treyarch after all. This return to the Axis V Allied era, I hope will see a return to a more casual and lovable zombie experience.

So that is 2-0, well done Sledgehammer. We must now consider the almighty power of the series. The multiplayer. Home to children who apparently know my mother, plus frustration in moments where the game is clearly at fault, and not my below-own-belief skill level.

Here is where I think the fifteenth COD is going to fall down. The trench warfare looks amazing, initial images look pleasingly more casual than Battlefield 1. Old, real guns will mean the featuring of countless ridiculous weapons will be over. For this, I’m thankful. These are the only parts of the multiplayer that I have a few doubts about. Sledgehammer were responsible for making microtranscations in COD popular. This is not a crime in itself. After all, Rocket League has them and it has only enhanced the experience. Call of Duty, however, updates the rewards too often, with little chance to get them. Even if you do finally get a chance to try them, you suddenly realise that the game has changed in no way and what you’ve just been given is normally just a re-skin of something already in the game. I enjoy having the ability to change the outfit of your character, but unlocking weapons, to me, is beyond the pale.

You may be thinking, it’s set in WW2. They wouldn’t overdo the unlockables and microtransactions. That it would be extremely weird to have a gold outfit on a Russian 1942 soldier. Well, they took MW, an already loved game, and changed it so much that over Christmas there were fairy lights all over one of the maps. You know, nothing immerses me in a warzone more than extensive lighting that is surprisingly still powered even in extensive machine gun fire and grenade shrapnel.

Sledgehammer need to get the balance right. I have faith, but for now these concerns have to fall under the Cons. That’s 2-1 in favour of buying it.

The final thing that might sway me is this. I am a nerd. I know, shocking right? I love history and have been infinitely interested in WW2. If Sledgehammer get the historical facts correct, they may create one of the best CODs; possibly the most believable and engaging FPS package of the PS4 era.

Sledgehammer seems to have announced the most tempting Call of Duty offering of the last six years. I’ve decided I’m going to take the plunge. The question is, will you be joining me?

]]>12777PS4A Picks: guess which game Mitch has been playinghttp://ps4attitude.com/team/2017/05/ps4a-picks-guess-game-mitch-playing
Fri, 05 May 2017 22:30:27 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12504Over the last couple of weeks, Dolph continued to be absorbed in the world of Horizon: Zero Dawn, Sam partied like it was 1999 with Crash Team Racing, while I […]

]]>Over the last couple of weeks, Dolph continued to be absorbed in the world of Horizon: Zero Dawn, Sam partied like it was 1999 with Crash Team Racing, while I was mesmerised by What Remains of Edith Finch. But, of course, the real question is: just what has Mitch been playing?

DolphGB

Horizon: Zero Dawn continues to surprise and delight in equal measure. As I unlock more of the world and find additional new story elements, Aloy’s character blossoms. And the action is more visceral than ever, with stunning new machines being introduced consistently. Only once have I noticed any real spike in difficulty that stopped me from getting where I needed to be, but the game has so many side missions, quests, errands, and training opportunities that it didn’t take long before I was able to move on once again, this time wielding better weapons and skills. Horizon really is a masterpiece.

Other than that, I’ve found myself relaxing at the end of a long day with a little Rocket League. It is the one game – thanks to accessibility, speed of loading, and consistently brilliant gameplay – that I can dive straight into for instant stress relief. Or, if I’m on the wrong end of a drubbing, maybe a little stress enhancement. Either way, Rocket League is as fun now as it ever was.

Mitch

It doesn’t take a genius to guess what I’ve been doing! Yup, I’ve started my second Persona 5 playthrough, but this time I’m equipped with several DLCs and I’m tackling the game on Hard mode. ‘When will I have had my fill of Persona 5?’ I hear you ask. Who knows? I’m still obsessing over the rest of the series, and Persona 5 has quickly become one of my all-time favourite games. You should definitely give it a go! Seeing its runaway success has been amazing, even if it’s been severely underestimated in the UK – only now can you start finding physical copies of it again, almost a full month after its release.

Other than that, I’ve returned to Star Wars: Battlefront, which has been a blast. I love it and it’s easily one of my favourite shooters, as I can play it for hours without becoming bored. I’m super excited for Battlefront 2. It seems as if EA are improving upon everything that Battlefront had, plus adding features that fans have wanted. It’s rare that I become so enamoured with a shooter, but Battlefront is one of the special ones to capture my heart.

Sam

My PS4 has been delivering delight and frustration in equal measure of late; Rocket League being the source of both! I love the acrobatic soccer game more than most, but unfortunately my performance in ranked has been akin to a monkey flinging manure at an E.L. James book.

I’m finally looking Heavensward in Final Fantasy XIV. I’m thankful that this expansion adds to the terribly unfulfilling ending to A Realm Reborn. As Stefan will testify, as I have done nothing but complain since I finished it, as I found the ending to be disappointing, irredeemably ridiculous and overly ambitious. It did not tie loose ends, and didn’t so much leave it on a cliff-hanger as throw a bomb into the works.

I’ve given up on Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3. If you look at my review you will understand why. However, the biggest piece of good news is that I’ve dug up my PS Vita. I have fallen in love with that machine. Just £4 bought me the original Crash Team Racing, which I aim to 100%. For I may be single, but I feel that keeping my aims realistic is important.

Stefan

Of the many games I’ve played over the last few weeks, I’d like to focus on one in particular for this PS4A Picks; namely, the incredible What Remains of Edith Finch. As a massive fan of Giant Sparrow’s first game, The Unfinished Swan, I’ve been looking forward to their sophomore title ever since it was announced back in 2014, and have purposefully avoided any information about it since then.

You play as the titular Edith Finch, as she returns to her childhood home to discover how each of her relatives succumbed to the family curse and ultimately died; some at a very young age. As game premises go, it sounds pretty depressing – and it can be – but, in a strange way, it is also quite uplifting.

Each character’s death is portrayed in a playable flashback, some of which show exactly how they died, while others are more allegorical and ambiguous. Many of these sequences are also extremely imaginative, but all of them are utterly intriguing. I realise I haven’t given much away here, but it’s one of those special games you really must experience for yourself. If you’re a fan of games with strong narrative, or want something a little different, I implore you to give What Remains of Edith Finch a try.

]]>12504Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/wonder-boy-dragons-trap-review-ps4
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 23:18:00 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12163A remake of a 1989 originally made for the Sega Master System, Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap new shine may be modern but its tough gameplay is decisively retro. This […]

]]>A remake of a 1989 originally made for the Sega Master System, Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap new shine may be modern but its tough gameplay is decisively retro. This 2D side-scroller will likely tickle your nostalgia bone whilst having you internally cry with frustration as you try to navigate its colourful, fantasy worlds in search of a way to become human again.

This game is a sequel where you’ve defeated the menacing Meka Dragon and been inflicted with a curse which has turned you into a dragon. You breathe fire, have scales, and have to defeat all other existing dragons to regain your human form. You gain other forms during the course of the game to help you with its many levels and their unique environments, and it’s all good fun unless you find yourself losing a huge chunk of progress to an enemy. Once you’ve fallen, you have to restart from the games town hub although important items such as keys to unlock doors remain. There isn’t much of a story to really speak of when playing, as was fairly standard back in the 1980’s for video games, but there is a big emphasis on gameplay.

You’re mostly left to your own intentions with little goal past needing to regain your human form, and so it’s up to you to explore and see what you’re able to do. From hunting down the Meka Dragon to escaping his lair in your new form, you’re left only to assume you’re going in the right direction, and this continues throughout the game — this is part of the games charm though, whether you’re a big fan of it or not. Honestly, the aimless-ness of the game bogged me down a little, as did my having to replay sections when I died, but I respect that it’s kept true to the original and has delivered on that. The game itself is almost like a puzzle with simple combat against enemies who can quickly outnumber and defeat you, and you’ll have to play relatively safe and react quickly if you want to make decent progress.

Wonder Boy is gorgeous. Simply gorgeous with its hand-drawn 2D art, creative locales and its abundance of colour. It’s hard to look at Wonder Boy and not think it looks anything other than stunning, because it certainly does! There’s an option to change the visuals on the fly too, letting you play it like the retro-inspired game it is rather than its new art style. Animations are smooth, crisp and soft, and the team should be pleased with their impressive efforts. The audio mostly consists of the games orchestal soundtrack which matches the games bright and upbeat style, and its sound effects are lovely — the birds singing in the village sound wonderful.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, or Wonder Girl if you play as the games optional new female lead, is decisively beautiful with gameplay that does well in staying true to the original and the time frame it was released in. It’s worth its asking price and will keep you busy for a decent amount of time, and it boasts replayability in its varying difficulty levels (there’s no shame in playing on easy, especially on a inherently difficult game) although it isn’t much longer than a few hours — a game like this lends itself to being short though, and will be perfect for speedrunners. For £15.99/$19.99/€19.99 though, you can’t really go wrong.

]]>12163A Rose in the Twilight (Vita)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/rose-twilight-vita
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 16:34:45 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12147A Rose in the Twilight is the latest game title from Nippon Ichi Software to hit the Vita, following on from the haunting The Firefly Diary and the spooky Yomawari, […]

]]>A Rose in the Twilight is the latest game title from Nippon Ichi Software to hit the Vita, following on from the haunting The Firefly Diary and the spooky Yomawari, and it’s another dark, mysterious game which hates its protagonist — don’t worry though, you’ll want to save them from their living Hell.

A Rose in the Twilight follows Rose, a young girl, who wakes up in a bleak castle with the Curse of Thorns, which allows her to draw and transfer blood between objects. She awakens a sleeping giant with the power of the thorns, who in turn helps her as she tries to escape from the castle. With no need for dialogue, A Rose in the Twilight slowly presents the story to you as you explore the castle via the environment and brief cutscenes and, if you’ve played one of Nippon Ichi’s Vita games before, then you already know it’s clever, dark and melancholy.

You control both Rose and the giant as you traverse your prison, with Rose’s special ability being her thorns, and the giant is able to carry her and throw heavy objects. Rose can only carry one use of blood at a time, and for the giant to grab items they need to be infused with blood, so managing your blood and where to use it makes up much of the thinking work that you’ll be doing. Both work in tandem with each other to solve some fairly taxing puzzles and to help one another progress where alone they couldn’t, and changing between the two characters is smooth and painless — you do it at a touch of a button whilst the other character waits, and they’re never in danger so you don’t need to worry about them too much. They do move pretty slowly though which can be a tad irksome when you die and have to replay parts you already know the answers to, but thankfully each level is relatively short.

A Rose in the Twilight is atmospheric with visuals to match, and it’s cute protagonist is betrayed by her dull, colourless surroundings. These stark contrasts work together perfectly, creating that twisted fairytale-type feeling that I’m a big fan of. It makes use of muted colours and details in the environment to help tell its story, and its almost complete silence is a design choice I can get behind. There’s some music in it, and it fits in with the game, but overall it’s a lonely experience of a girl who wants to escape from a castle she’s trapped in, and a giant who’s willing to help her.

A Rose in the Twilight is similar to Nipon Ichi Software’s other Vita games and although replaying the same segments when you die can be a bit of a slog, overall this game is ripe with creative puzzles, a story that takes the phrase of “show, don’t tell” to heart to tell an emotive plot, and it joins the Vita as another solid exclusive for the terrific little system. I’m happy that NIS America are still supporting the system and localising niche titles like these, as they’re quite unique and well worth playing.

]]>12147Persona 5 (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/persona-5-ps4
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:08:18 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12057There are a lot of words to describe Persona 5, and all of them are good. I have close to no issues with this game – easily one of the […]

]]>There are a lot of words to describe Persona 5, and all of them are good. I have close to no issues with this game – easily one of the best games of all-time – that redefines JRPG’s and kept me glued for over 100 hours. And counting, because I started it all over again almost immediately. It’s just that good.

Persona 5 follows the Phantom Thieves, led by your character (who I named Akira Kurusu as that’s his name in the manga) and his new friends as they fight against the corrupt adults of society by stealing their hearts — they remove the corruption, and the guilt inflicted because of this forces a victim to confess their wrongdoings. What starts off as an attempt to avoid expulsion at the hands of an immoral teacher soon becomes something far bigger when they realise they can’t ignore the fact that they can make a real difference, and the Phantom Thieves start tackling bigger targets. It’s a grand and engrossing tale that’ll keep you engaged until the very end.

It’s a grand and engrossing tale that’ll keep you engaged until the very end.

Each member of the Phantom Thieves has a deeply personal reason to join, with the protagonist’s being that he was falsely accused of a crime that he did not commit, and this branded him a criminal with a criminal record. Not only does this harm his prospects in future life, but it means that he’s outcasted at his new school the moment that he sets foot inside of it — it doesn’t help that his parents sent him off to live with a non-related stranger as they didn’t want to cope with the issue themselves. Whilst the concept of children rebelling against adults can sound rather simple and plain, it’s anything but due to Atlus’ fantastical writing and characterisations — it tackles the situation in a fresh way, and you’ll quickly find yourself falling in love with its every aspect.

Social Links are replaced with Confidants but they serve the same purpose, and the new term better fits the story. A Confidant link lets you spend free time with friends, letting you know more about them and as your Confidant rank with them progresses, you’ll learn various skills such as team members being able to take a killing blow for you, or the ability to buy HP items and to create SP items. Spending time with friends is half of the fun of Persona 5 and you’ll find yourself wanting to max out every possible Confidant before the games end — you’ll likely do this on another playthrough though! They’re in-depth and useful, with real problems that you can help them overcome. It’s like spending time with real close friends, however strange that may seem to you.

It’s like spending time with real close friends.

The Persona series plays better than ever with its latest installment, improving upon what made its predecessors great and adding in a slew of new features to make it all the more sweeter. Persona 5 raises the bar for JRPG’s and it’s going to take something really special to surpass it. Turn-based battles have been refined to something resembling perfection here, re-introducing mechanics from the earlier Persona games and incorporating them with 3 and 4’s gameplay. Attacking with a melee weapon or summoning your Persona to use one of its many skills is still key here, but making a return are guns — which some enemies are weak to — and demon negotiation where you can persuade an enemy to either join your team as a Persona, or give you an item or money. Of course, you can all out attack and deal massive damage, instead. These mechanics add for more depth and sometimes funny conversations, and I’m glad to see them return.

Gone are the lists you had to navigate through with each action being assigned to one of the buttons on the DualShock 4, allowing for smoother, faster combat than what we’ve previously seen — not to say that the other games don’t hold up, because you’d better believe that they do! The “Baton Pass” function allows you to transfer your turn to someone else if you’ve weakened an enemy but have no abilities that’ll weaken the rest, allowing them to down them so that you can hold them up — this is when the negotiation begins. Persona 5 juggles so many mechanics yet juggles them masterfully, and it’s no wonder why Atlus are so revered.

It’s no wonder why Atlus are so revered.

Dungeon-design is at its best and whilst I enjoyed Persona 4’s dungeons, Persona 5’s aren’t randomly generated and so they’re huge, thought-out areas brimming with detail and chests to loot — you are thieves, after all! They can be tackled aggressively or stealthily, thanks to the new stealth mechanic that allows you to ambush and evade enemies on patrol. It adds another layer of complexity to exploring, and gives you more options in how you tackle a Palace. Talking of more options, there are more options in the Velvet Room when fusing a Persona as you can now fuse one of them with a random Persona from someone else online, as well as turn a Persona into an item. There’s more to play with than ever, and I’ve definitely paid more attention when it came to creating Persona and customising their abilities — it’s accessible, and if you’re already familiar with the series then you’ll pick it up quickly and value the new options.

You don’t need me to tell you this, but Persona 5 is incredibly stylish and its UI will leave you breathless. I found myself flicking through menus just to see how the transitions animate, and it’s something that never failed to impress me even when I clocked in over 100 hours. Each Palace is based on the heart of the person that the Phantom Thieves are stealing, meaning that they’re all themed which allows the game to go from reality to fantasy worlds bursting with colour. Seeing the various demons in full HD 3D has been delightful, and it’s a dream come true to see my favourite series looking so amazing.

It’s a dream come true to see my favourite series looking so amazing.

Shigenori Soejima returns as the series’ resident character designer and his ability to create striking designs where you’ll find yourself appreciating the little nuances and details in each of the main cast’s Phantom Thief outfits, which resemble what they imagine a rebel to look like, is remarkable. The 2D portraits and the characters designs themselves are wonderful, and they’re carefully re-created into 3D models for the series’ most visually impressive outing yet.

The expressions that cut-in during conversation, the speech bubbles that appear when wandering around, the way your dialogue options are displayed – everything is so meticulously detailed and so well-presented that it’s difficult to not be floored by Persona 5. Soejima’s art is deservedly recognisable and Atlus’ Persona team are overflowing with talent, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the full Persona 5 artbook later this Summer — Soejima creates magic when he gets to work, and it doesn’t take more than a brief look at how he designs Persona characters to realise this.

Emotive, natural performances and solid voice direction lead to Persona 5 being a joy to listen to.

Atlus games have always had exceedingly good English dubs and Persona 5 is no different, featuring a talented voice cast who bring the cast to life and I enjoyed listening to them, rather than skipping forward once I’d read the text. The best game of the year deserves an equally as impressive voice cast and the main team, consisting of a few notable names including Erika Harlacher, Max Mittelman, Cassandra Lee Morris, Matthew Mercer, Cherami Leigh and, well, I could sit here and list them all day as they’re all phenomenal, but you can also find them all here! Emotive, natural performances and solid voice direction lead to Persona 5 being a joy to listen to, and Atlus have done it once again when it comes to top-notch English dubs.

Speaking of “doing it once again”, composer Shoji Meguro leads the charge in providing an unforgettable soundtrack. Described as acid jazz, Persona 5’s catchy OST will have you bobbing and singing along, featuring some of the best battle themes in gaming with Lyn’s vocals blending in beautifully with the music. I purchased the OST and can’t say that there isn’t a song I don’t like, and it’s got a variety of guitar, piano, orchestral and more to scratch every itch. Shoji Meguro is one of my favourite composers and once you listen to some of his work, you won’t be left wondering why I admire him so much.

Outstanding doesn’t begin to cover Persona 5.

Outstanding doesn’t begin to cover Persona 5. We’re almost halfway through 2017 but I know that this will be my game of the year, and it’s quickly broken into my top ten of all-time. Persona 5 excels in every aspect and I have no notable issues to speak of. In fact, I’ve already started my second playthrough! Persona 5 has the honour of being my second perfect score on PS4 Attitude and it wholly deserves it, and it deserves your attention. Atlus has created a masterpiece and if you miss out on it, then you’re missing out on one of the best, greatest and memorable experiences in gaming.

]]>12057Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/sniper-ghost-warrior-3-ps4
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 18:54:34 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12119Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 seems more like Sniper: Most Sorrier 3. I have been looking forward to the arrival of Jon North’s travels in Georgia ever since I developed a […]

]]>Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 seems more like Sniper: Most Sorrier 3. I have been looking forward to the arrival of Jon North’s travels in Georgia ever since I developed a sniping blood lust, brought upon by watching Shooter on Netflix. After all it’s an open-world, modern day, first person shooter with a focus on sniping. What is there not to tempt you!?

Unfortunately the description of the game is probably the best part about it. City Interactive Games has let me down. The premise and the AAA budget had so much promise.

Before we get into the actual body of the game, let us first talk about the loading times. After you select continue campaign in the main menu, prepare yourself for a loading time that would rival PS3 Skyrim or Simpson’s Road Rage. Difference is both of those games were worth the wait. How long is the wait, Sam? I hear you cry, well if you think I sat there with a stopwatch to find out, you must think I have nothing better to do with my time, I mean what kind of bloke would waste part of their day off from work doing that!? Anyway, as I was saying it takes 4 minutes and 34 seconds. What’s sadder still is that these loading times occur all the way through the game.

The story is a tale that has been told many times before, a tale of a lost brother, a slightly rogue protagonist and a beautiful blonde who you’ve wronged but still seems to be happy to help you.

Lydia, the blonde with an appalling level of trust for Jon

The prologue begins and the first thing that strikes you is how much the visuals fail to impress. They portray a detailed and inspiring environment by PS3 standards but how the people look is extremely below par. As they tend to be the feature you focus on, it is instantly disappointing. The characters seem to be out of focus. I seriously believe Abe, Spyro, Crash and Jak all look better on their original consoles than this game’s agents of disbelief. Any immersion that has been created beforehand is dashed away.

Look how wonderful they look!

The visuals would be forgivable. Let’s face it we have all played a title where the gameplay was so engaging or the story so fantastic that the way it was shown to us didn’t matter that much.

The voice acting is cold with a lack of sincerity that means that you struggle to believe that Jon genuinely cares for his brother at all. Mercifully, there is not an awful lot of speech except for cutscenes and when civilians you encounter relentlessly tell you that they aren’t armed. Their incessant dialogue will make you want to shoot them all the more.

I have unfortunately not even hit on the worst element of the audio. They have to be the sound effects. When you begin to climb a ladder, Jon makes a grunt that sounds like he has just landed on the rungs after falling from a great height, using his stomach as a brake. The sound is used again when he dismounts the ladder. After all we are meant to believe that one of the greatest snipers makes a noise like a middle aged man picking up a dropped pencil, with every piece of physical exercise. I hate to say it but this is just a perfect example of the environmental sounds in the game.

The buggy that you have to help you travel around the map is actually quite pleasing to drive. It’s not very realistic, you reverse at almost the same speed you drive forward but it is pleasing. Often you will feel the want to go off road. Be warned. The buggy cannot seem to cope with a small grass covered hill, but it can completely destroy a small, planted tree when you drive through. If that tree however has already been felled it will pose a massive problem to your vehicle. For its horizontal position will make it the immovable object to your very stoppable force.

The audio all the way through the gameplay is not non-naturalistic like Bulletstorm but simply unrealistic.

Let me be clear. The game has some redeemable elements. The game forces you to plan ahead. Take your time with each encounter and ensure that you minimise alarm. You are equipped with a drone to allow you to spot the enemies and the prime spot to lay and take them out, one by on.

The levels are challenging and fun. They offer satisfying snipes and an element of problem solving that isn’t dissimilar to other stealth games.

The open world element allows for some enjoyable exploration and casual sniping, allows you to test your new sniping work. The only issue is due to how you start missions. Unlike every open world game, I know of, you have to begin all missions at your safe house. This means that the ordinary fluidity of an open world game is sullied a little.

I’m sorry to say it but unfortunately this game is a massive let down, especially when you consider that it was delayed. If you see this game on offer in a few months or years then by all means, grab it, it’ll tide you over between games. Provided that future patches fix the game’s frequent crashing and freezing issues.

]]>12119Puyo Puyo Tetris (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/puyo-puyo-tetris-ps4
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:52:42 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12084Puyo Puyo Tetris does what it says on the tin — it combines Puyo Puyo and Tetris for a fresh spin on both series’, and it’s addicting! I’ve never been […]

]]>Puyo Puyo Tetris does what it says on the tin — it combines Puyo Puyo and Tetris for a fresh spin on both series’, and it’s addicting! I’ve never been too fond of Tetris and its ability of kick my arse, but I’ve enjoyed the likes of Puyo Puyo before and it’s reminiscent of Bejewelled but with an anime twist, and you all know I like those.

Puyo Puyo Tetris wastes no time in getting down to business with the Puyo Puyo players being transported from their home to a spaceship filled with Tetris players, and the two groups battle it out whilst teaching the others the rules of their games. In doing so, they create a new game entirely that mashes the two classics together perfectly, and it’s great fun — despite being beaten by the AI a shameful amount of times, I kept coming back in for more. Its story is light-hearted and cheerful, and it keeps pulling you back in with its bright colours, animated characters, humour and banter.

An array of gameplay modes greet you each time you boot the game up including Adventure, Versus and Online modes, and each contain different modes within them. I’d bore you if I decided to list the various puzzle modes and explain each one, but there’s plenty to keep you busy and the game of Tetris and Puyo Puyo have never been so deep or content-packed, and fans of each series should be pleased. Regardless of what you do the core gameplay remains the same — you’ll want to bring your Tetrominos and Puyo’s together and clear lines before you’re forced to face defeat.

Puyo Puyo Tetris puts your reactions and quick-thinking to the rest with fast-paced, relentless gameplay and various modes where speed is key. One of my favourite modes, Swap, combines the two games together with a timer telling you when they’ll switch, so if you’re on the Tetris board it’ll snap to the Puyo Puyo board instead. At first this doesn’t sound so difficult but as it gets faster and more intense, you’ll find yourself scrambling and being pushed to your limit to keep ahead of your opponent. It’s good, creative fun that brings the best of both worlds together, and both are simple enough for anybody to learn and play. Getting a certain score before the timer is up or beating your opponent on a set collection of levels to deal damage to their health bar are two other notable modes, and there’s enough content and replayability here to keep things fresh and exciting — no two games are the same.

You might’ve guessed this by the screenshots but Puyo Puyo Tetris is a brilliant and colourful, and I gorged on its lovely visuals. The 2D portraits stand out with their bold black lines and wonderful character designs, and the Tetronimos and Puyo’s match with their vivid, shiny looks too. You can unlock seven different designs for Tetronimos and Puyo’s ranging from faces to chalk to crayon, so if you find yourself getting a little bored of the default style then feel free to mix it up! There’s a fair bit of dialogue in this game so you’ll be seeing a lot of the characters, and they never fail to delight — well, I get a bit irked when Ai appears because that dog-man absolutely ravaged me early on in game and I can’t get over it.

The English voice-acting is splendid with silly dialogue and I didn’t skip the text boxes, which are fortunately all voiced, as I enjoyed the banter and outrageous conversations the many characters had. The voice talent clearly had a blast lending their voices in this one, and it’s easy to have fun alongside them. The soundtrack is upbeat but doesn’t distract you from the mind-bending puzzle gameplay, proving to be an unobtrusive joy.

Puyo Puyo Tetris is endlessly entertaining with many single player and multiplayer options. I’ve yet to play online due to a lack of people to play with, but once it releases I’ll be sure to check it out. Clever, fast and bursting with colour and personality, Puyo Puyo Tetris will keep you busy and it’s easy to recommend at its budget price. This is the most fun I’ve had with Tetris and Puyo Puyo is as charming as it’s always been, and you should definitely look into picking it up.

]]>12084Gran Turismo Sport – Beta: Is it the racer we’ve been waiting for?http://ps4attitude.com/preview/2017/04/gran-turismo-sport-beta-racer-weve-waiting
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 08:57:20 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=11997First, a bit of a disclaimer. I’m not actually a petrol-head. I learned to drive at the tender age of 29, having always lived in cities and therefore not having […]

I’m not actually a petrol-head. I learned to drive at the tender age of 29, having always lived in cities and therefore not having the need to learn. As such, I was late to see the appeal of ‘nice’ cars. Sure, they were pretty and shiny, but that was never enough of a draw for me to want posters of them on my walls as a kid.

I was therefore never au fait with the latest in technological advances in the automotive industry. A carburetor meant as much to me as hair grips hold meaning for dolphins. I’m much more into my vehicles now, with a part-way-done Peugeot 106 Roland Garros sitting in my driveway as a project car for the summer.

Having said that, I have keen memories of the racing games I’ve played across the console generations: From Beetle Adventure Racing on the N64 through to Motorstorm on the Playstation 3, I have always enjoyed a good racer.

Gran Turismo holds a special place for any gamer, regardless of skill level or interest. It was always the pinnacle of achievement in technology and graphical oomph, demonstrating the absolute best that the PlayStation family could deliver at the time of release. Personally, I can’t hear The Cardigans’ “Favourite Game” without thinking of the opening sequence of GT2.

Renowned for a bordering-obsessive level of attention to detail driven by series honcho Kazunori Yamauchi, the series always strove to provide a realistic car experience beyond compare.

For the last twenty years, GT has arguably been the benchmark for what a racing game should be about; epic cars, thrilling tracks and blisteringly good fun.

However, we’re talking about a 20-year-old franchise in an industry that never sleeps. Microsoft knew that it had to come up with something special to compete with the racing monopoly Sony had established and did so with the incredibly successful Forza series.

As we look at the current racing landscape, there are a plethora of compelling alternatives to GT littering the horizon – Forza, Project Cars, the Dirt series, Driveclub (once it was working!) to name just a few. Heck, even GTA has made a skid mark or two across the driving genre. Lulz.

As such, it was with a combination of trepidation and unbridled glee that I punched in my beta access code on the PSN last week and waited patiently for the download to complete.

Firstly, I’ll admit; the opening sequence is appalling. This nonsense of soaring piano music over slo-mo shots of cars swanning around tracks is a freight-train of sadness, compared to the good old days of an incredible song blaring at you as cars hurtle around a track.

Please, god of all things four-wheeled, make this right before the full game releases.

Once you’re in the game proper, you get handed the virtual keys to three vehicles to start with; one for each of the categories that the races fall into. I thought I was pretty lucky with my three – a BMW M6 GT3, an Audi TTS Coupe, and a Corvette C7. Alas, no customisation of the look of the cars is available in the beta, so I’m stuck with liveried-up monstrosities or monotone subtlety, dependent on the vehicle.

I had to wait until the Saturday to get my race on but was happy enough to ogle the photo mode that was playing in the background in the meantime. In the final version, you’ll be able to take these composite shots of your owned cars against real-world backdrops, but for now, it’s limited to a cycling group of predetermined shots of a random set of cars. This is certainly enough to make me fall in love with my TV all over again, at the very least.

The graphics are sublime, as is to be expected; cars shine, tracks look and feel right, and detailed crowds and foliage are ripe for the spotting. There are no stones left unturned here in the drive to provide an environment that screams that unique attention to detail Polyphony is so well-known for delivering. I’m not going to harp on about the graphics, as there are no surprises to be found here; GT as a series has always delivered in this area.

Where the series has fallen down previously, however, is in the audio department. The starting grid of far too many races of previous games sounded like hairdryers being switched on in unison, with a lack of variety. The throaty V8 next to you was indistinguishable from the straight six idling behind you.*

Thankfully, that’s no longer an issue. Finally, cars have character, with nuanced engine audio coming through both the TV and headphones in spades. This is by far the most striking AV difference I’ve noted so far.

The current version of GT Sport I’m playing is limited to time trials and online races, with minuscule windows of opportunity to get a race going. This is down to the narrow window that the geniuses at Polyphony can stress-test the servers, which I get. It would be fun to have wider hours of play available before the beta testing is up.

There are no licenses at this stage and – much to my disappointment – no VR support available. In saying that, the menu system has the option. I can see it; I just can’t get to it. I hate that I can’t get some of this VR action just yet.

Time trials are conducted on one of three tracks, each car usable on one of each of the tracks. Clock up the miles, and you will unlock your next vehicle. Win races, participate, up your driving skills, and you unlock more cars. There are quite a few to get your teeth into, considering this is a beta – I’ve seen friends with as many as 25 cars available to choose between.

The speed laps are solitary affairs, as standard, but you’ve got options regarding what you can see and do – racing line markers can be turned on or off, and ghosts are available if desired.

There are some limitations on these tracks. However, the time of day is fixed, as is weather – there’s no suggestion of the inclusion of weather options right now. Well, not that I’ve been able to root out just yet, but I’m still digging – fingers are firmly crossed for some racing in the wet.

Once you’ve achieved the best you can in the time trials, and assuming you are available to race at the allotted time slots, you’re able to join a group of similar-skilled drivers to beat the pack and finish first.

In racing other drivers, you have a chance to improve on two fronts; ‘SR’ and ‘DR’. ‘SR’ is your sportsmanship ranking, and is represented by a number that increases or decreases based on how chivalrous you are in the races. Ram some poor should into the sand? That’s a negative for you. Smash a wall? Down the points come again.

Other than that, it’s kinda tough to identify what the actual criteria are for gaining or losing points in this way. Every so often when driving, I’d see the depressing red indicator telling me that I was a cretinous monster of a driver, devoid of all sportsmanlike behaviour – but without actually telling me why I’d been docked points.

This was – and is – very frustrating, as I need to improve, but have no idea how I’m meant to do that between the weird judgements made by the game and the insanity that is the collision detection system. More on that in a minute.

The ‘DR’ element stands for ‘Driving Ranking’ – how you hold up against other drivers. Finish races in better positions, your DR improves from E through to A and finally S. Pretty straightforward, no major issues here.

What I found massively challenging in the races wasn’t the tracks, handling or vehicle I was in, rather it was the utterly incomprehensible bugginess of the online experience. Cars jumped about the track, ghosting through me one moment and colliding with me a la bumper car style the next.

It drove me to absolute distraction, as I’d be racing along quite the thing when some numpty would ram me from behind because I’d decided to brake for a hairpin corner – the fool that I am! What galled, even more, was that I’d then get SR points docked from me, and have no clue why!

Overall, this is a beta, and I’m continuing to remind myself that. If Polyphony can get the weirdnesses of online racing figured out, we could be in for a real treat. Without a doubt, Yamauchi-san and his team have crafted a pristine game with real potential.

If they can refine the online experience (and sort out a better intro), and I’ll be happy.

*I never used to be into cars, but I’m getting there slowly. I can totally get away with some technical jargon. Now pass me that wrench…

GT Sport was played on an original PS4 with a DualShock 4 on a Samsung 49″ KS7000 4K TV.

]]>11997Little Nightmares (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/little-nightmares-ps4
Sun, 23 Apr 2017 13:51:14 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12065I’ve had my eye on Little Nightmares since it was announced as its kids nightmare-esque theme intrigued me — I love Tim Burton and saw that his inspiration could be […]

]]>I’ve had my eye on Little Nightmares since it was announced as its kids nightmare-esque theme intrigued me — I love Tim Burton and saw that his inspiration could be felt here. A solid platformer with a tense atmosphere and creative character designs is only let down by its final chapter, but you should play it regardless.

Little Nightmares follows young girl Six as she wakes up on the Maw, a large boat, and tries to make her escape. Of course, it isn’t as simple as just walking out of the front door as you’re chased by others who live on the boat who appear as large, grotesque humans — initially I thought this was because Six is young and that this is meant to be like a child’s nightmare, but really everything is exactly as it seems. Six is certainly little and her situation is a nightmare, but the concept of being like a child’s nightmare is something that wasn’t realised very well by the end. A decent story is told, until the last third of the game, with no dialogue whatsoever and it kept me enraptured — sadly, it left me confused with no closure.

Little Nightmares is incredibly atmospheric and tense, and its gameplay is solid even if it does trip over itself sometimes with it’s slightly awkward button layout. It’s described as a big game of “hide and seek” and that’s not wrong as you’ll be spending much of your time hiding from enemies that you cannot fight against, and biding your time as you find a way out of the area you’re in. Simple yet clever, Little Nightmares will rarely stump you but solving a puzzle feels rewarding all the same, and I yearn for more after I finished with its 5-6 running time. The way it handles the camera can sometimes lead to an unfortunate death due to not being able to clearly see where you’re going, though.

Little Nightmares boasts a wonderful aesthetic that is creepy and nostalgic in its own, weird way — it really does remind me a fair bit of Tim Burton, and it’s lovely to play through a game in this style. Environments and enemies are elongated or squashed to uncomfortable sizes, with the Janitor’s arms in particular being able to reach you from what would usually be a safe distance. Dark and eerie, Little Nightmares will keep you on your toes as you stretch to see what’s around the next corner, or what your enemies are currently doing. Watching them go about their daily business is rather interesting, even if their daily business is rather horrible. Its soundtrack is equally as atmospheric, providing creaking, echoing sound effects for the rundown ship, and its metallic-sounding soundtrack with children’s voices intermingled fits perfectly.

Despite Little Nightmare’s shortcomings when it comes to the last chapter or so of the game, it’s a thrilling adventure that I would like to revisit in the future. I’m interested to see what others make of the climax of the game, but it didn’t sit well with me and is the only notable issue I have with the game. Should you check it out? Yes, of course, but be warned that it’s less about taking things that we found scary as children and re-creating them here, and it’s more outlandish instead. Little Nightmares is one of the finest indie games I’ve played and I quickly fell in love with it, although I wish that the story stayed as simple as escaping from The Maw — this hasn’t stopped me from wanting to do it all over again though, and I’m interested to see if others can make better sense of the ending.

]]>12065The Disney Afternoon Collection (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/disney-afternoon-collection-ps4
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 15:19:07 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12042I’m a big Disney fan so when this collection was announced, I was pretty excited. Admittedly, I then forgot about it until the day of its release where I proceeded […]

]]>I’m a big Disney fan so when this collection was announced, I was pretty excited. Admittedly, I then forgot about it until the day of its release where I proceeded to play through the TaleSpin and Chip and Dale games in a short period of time, and I found myself having a blast!

Included in this retro collection is Ducktales 1 and 2, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers 1 and 2, TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck. I’m familiar with some of these from when I was much younger, but the six games hold up well today although they do have some notable framerate issues. These games were pretty well-received back when they released, and being able to play through some classic Disney titles is good fun — they’re pretty damn difficult, though! There’s not much of a story to any of them bar a few lines of dialogue, usually in-between missions, and they’re easy to follow and scream 80’s and 90’s — the menu does this exact same thing, and I love it.

The six games are all 2D side-scrollers and play pretty similarly, but each has cool features that help them to stand out. TaleSpin allows you to press X to flip your airplane upside down which allows you to shoot enemies behind you — despite being old, this feels like a fresh feature I became enamoured with. Chip and Dale lets you pick up items and instead of just being able to throw them, you can also hide in them — this isn’t quite as useful, but I had fun playing around with it. A brand new feature is the “rewind feature” which, as you’ve likely guessed, lets you rewind to any point so that you can continue your game. I found this to be very useful at times, but it’s not available when you play Boss Rush or Time Trial where you’ll have to rely solely on your own skills. Younger players will be able to join in the fun too now, though.

The collection holds up well today with minimal work done to them and, again, my only issue is that the framerate can be abhorrent at times. I noticed it mostly in Ducktales where if too many enemies or items were on-screen, it would slow down to a crawl and being nigh unplayable. It’s a shame as it’s a solid game that has seen several releases over the years, and this isn’t one of its best ones. Hopefully it’ll be patched, but otherwise it’s a good idea to clear enemies to minimise the issue!

There’s seemingly been no work done to them visually but their sprites are still wonderful, and each games variety of areas kept my interest. The games are short but they do have me itching to replay some of them — my personal favourites were the two Chip and Dale games, if you were interested! You can play them full screen or with a small screen and themed borders (which you can also turn off), and I chose the latter option to avoid the visuals becoming stretched. You can also activate TV or monitor mode to change how the lines are processed but I decided to leave it as normal as I felt it was the best looking option. There’s no voice-work and the original soundtracks have seemingly been left untouched too, but you can still make out the theme songs which I recognise from the cartoons. This collection is completely retro and it revels in being so.

The Disney Afternoon Collection is worth the asking price if you like retro and 2D side-scrollers, and being a fan of Disney helps too. I’ve enjoyed my time with it and I know I’ll return to it time and time again, and I hope that Capcom put out another collection someday. If you’re looking to relive a part of your childhood or catch up on what you missed out on, then The Disney Afternoon Collection is well worth buying. I had my reservations, but I’ve very much enjoyed The Disney Afternoon Collection.

]]>12042Touhou Genso Wanderer (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/touhou-genso-wanderer-ps4
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 13:11:57 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=11989After the atrocity that is Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet, I was hesitant to play another game in the series but, thankfully, Genso Wanderer is a far better title that […]

]]>After the atrocity that is Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet, I was hesitant to play another game in the series but, thankfully, Genso Wanderer is a far better title that I found enjoyment in. It might not be an outstanding title, but it’s far better than its previous offering on PS4.

Touhou Genso Wanderer follows Shrine Maiden Reimu as she journeys to dispel the curse of the Golden Sphere, an item which seeps evil and has taken over her friend, Rinnosuke. Reimu herself isn’t particularly motivated and wants to kick back and take it easy in life, but she knows she has a duty to fulfil and meets several friends on her journey to bring Rinnosuke back to normal, and to protect the small region of Gensokyo. There’s a lot of dialogue to read and whilst it can be a bit of a slog, particularly as very little is said in its abundance of text, it can still be pretty enjoyable to see the characters banter amongst themselves. If you don’t know much about Touhou, however, you might be a little lost when it comes to characters and terms, and Genso Wanderer doesn’t do a very good job in elaborating.

Genso Wanderer is a dungeon-crawler where areas are randomised each time you enter them, making no two adventures exactly the same. You can take in allied characters to battle with you – and you’ll want to – and the game itself isn’t particularly hard — I found the biggest trouble to be traps that you couldn’t see whilst exploring, as these could do some serious, unexpected damage. Thankfully dungeons aren’t excessively long but it still sucks if you’re defeated and have to start over, although the saving is fairly generous and I didn’t have too much of an issue with it. In regards to enemies, I usually used a turn attacking air so that they’d come closer to me, and eventually they’d be within hitting distance and would fall one after the other — the game helpfully recommends doing this too, although it does make it rather easy! Crafting and enhancing equipment goes a long way, and using items such as ones that can clear your surrounding areas of enemies can be a literal life-saver for Reimu and friends.

Genso Wanderer makes use of clean, chibi-styled art for much of the gameplay with more life-sized-like portraits being used during conversation. It looks pretty great, especially for a low-budget game, and its colour and character designs are delightful. Some enemies look as if they could be members of your team which was sometimes a little jarring, but overall it’s a pleasant looking game on PS4. I didn’t play it on Vita but I imagine it looks lovely on there too. All dialogue is in Japanese with solid performances and some of the music will be familiar to Touhou fans, although I didn’t recognise any as I’m not very familiar with the series.

Touhou Genso Wanderer is a good, fun romp which sometimes talks aimlessly for long periods of time, but it has decent game mechanics, a nice art style and plenty for fans of the series to love, even if it isn’t quite as accessible to newcomers. It’s far, far better than Bullet Ballet and if anything, I can respect how many genres Touhou finds itself tackling. Genso Wanderer isn’t a bad game although it makes for a hard recommendation at full price, but if you’re a die-hard fan then chances are you’ll get your moneys worth.

]]>11989Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/bulletstorm-full-clip-edition-ps4
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 11:08:35 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12026Bulletstorm is an exaggerated, ridiculous and immature game. It has the unwarranted violence of a United Airlines Flight and is full of inappropriate comments like a Sean Spicer press conference. […]

]]>Bulletstorm is an exaggerated, ridiculous and immature game. It has the unwarranted violence of a United Airlines Flight and is full of inappropriate comments like a Sean Spicer press conference. The game is full of bodies cut in half, heads blown clean off and carcasses contorted as they hang, impaled, from large cacti. I love it….Sorry… I mean let’s take a look at the game and save my judgement for later. (But, seriously…. It’s a lot of fun)

Bulletstorm is at its heart a good ol’ fashioned FPS. It has a main campaign, casual multiplayer and an after campaign set of missions with a classic three star rating system to show how adept you are. Bulletstorm straight away seems like a recipe that has worked a thousand times before, so why is this special.

It’s worth noting at this point that I never played Bulletstorm the first time around. This remaster has been my first introduction to Gray and his crew. He is no doubt a terrible captain but lovable nevertheless, like the drunk man you always see at your local pub. You’d never leave your kids with him but you’d miss him if he was gone.

Gray is on the hunt for redemption and in that search finds himself on a strange planet. It’s entirely his fault that everyone is on this world but it has allowed him to be reaching distance with his nemesis. The potty mouthed and borderline racist General, his former commanding officer. What makes this hunt for escape and a man of a high echelon so unique is how you’re scored.

There’s no XP. Instead you are scored on how you kill your enemies. How many ways are there? 131. They range across all weapons, environmental kills and kinds of enemies. Shoot the head off? 25 Points. Kick an enemy down a huge drop? 50 Points. Shoot an enemy below the belt and then the head? 100 points! No…seriously that is one of them.

Some of these skillshots require something more. As you’ve read already, you have the ability to kick your enemies away, sending them hurtling into possibly lethal scenery. You can also pull them closer to you, using the leash. This device you find near the start of the game, much like the allies in WW2 it has a three prong attack. You may pull enemies closer to you or thump them, sending them high into the air or fast into the ceiling. The leash is what keeps track of your skill points. These are critical in unlocking more guns, upgrades and more importantly ammo.

The music is as nitrous fuelled as the gameplay with a set of sounds that fit extremely well with the overall game. They offer realism that is smothered in over-the-top ridiculous similar to a Wilhelm scream. This oxymoron, I stand by.

The art style is reminiscent to Borderlands in its HUD, in my opinion. However the general graphics are nothing to write home about. They are pretty standard if I’m honest and wouldn’t be out of place in the Call of Duty franchise. In its defense however it is originally a PS3 game. Worth noting however I do not own a PS4 Pro. Which would allow for 4K display in this Full Clip edition of Bulletstorm.

Bulletstorm doesn’t end there. If you still crave want and destruction, why not take a tour through the Echoes mode. Echoes mode is a challenging guide back through the campaign. Only without all of that annoying narrative but with an increased difficulty. It gives you a star rating out of three. This is judged on the number of skillshots delivered, how many unique skillshots used and the time it took you to complete the mission.

Echoes mode, I haven’t completed yet but there is a good reason for that. It’s tough. The skillshots aren’t listed anywhere for you like they are in the campaign. This makes trying to use as many kinds of them a real challenge as not only do you have to deliver the shot but you also have to try an remember if that way of killing the enemy is scored well or not.

The echoes mode has an online leaderboard, ranking you on each level and as an overall player. It’s safe to say that I’m in the top 200 players but I’d be lying if I said that was for no other reason than the game is new and I’ve played half the echoes only days after release.

Anarchy Mode, the multiplayer section is reminiscent of the survival mode in Uncharted 3. Wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies with 3 colleagues. Survive and you get to the next round? Nope. You need to not only kill all that oppose you but you must use your skillshots once to earn enough of a score as a team to beat the target. This is a pleasant, innovative use of the games USP while not being overly ambitious. It shan’t be challenging Call of Duty Zombies anytime soon but if you are looking for something to play with three friends, PVE, it would certainly fall into the shortlist. COD Zombies, Final Fantasy XIV, Overwatch and now Bulletstorm.

Bulletstorm has been a very welcome addition to my library. I just hope that we got some other First Person Shooter’s that understand that you can still be what you’ve always been but so much more.

]]>12026The Sexy Brutale (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/sexy-brutale-ps4
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 09:28:11 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=12023My review of The Sexy Brutale will be brief. Firstly it is not a game I’d normally play. I’m usually a fan of an FPS, RPG or Action Adventure. Ever […]

]]>My review of The Sexy Brutale will be brief. Firstly it is not a game I’d normally play. I’m usually a fan of an FPS, RPG or Action Adventure. Ever since I finished The Witness I’ve been hoping and wanting a really impressive puzzle game. So when the £10 voucher dropped into my wallet on the PS Store I thought, yes let’s give this one a go. The Sexy Brutale has delivered beyond my expectations.

The game is not a puzzle game, no, not exclusively. It’s an RPG puzzle game full of action and adventure. It is similar to The Witness in that it doesn’t really explain how the puzzles work. It explains that you have the ability to restart the day and it gives you a tutorial puzzle but this section is only a tutorial in that it’s slightly less difficult than the others.

The Chapel. 3 Men, A Rifle, A Blank and a Magic Pocketwatch

You are a guest of the Marquis and have been given powers by ‘The Bloody Girl’. Your job is to save all the guests at the party from the gas mask wearing staff. Sounds easy enough. Well that’s just it, you may not enter the same room as a member of staff or indeed the possible victim. Their masks will attack you. This means to save them you must become the silent protector, your methods must be to change the world around them from putting a blank into the, would be, murder weapon or sending someone to the victim’s aid.

To start with the only power you have is the ability to reset the day. This means that to save the guests it all becomes a little trial and error. One by one you must slowly work out the chain of events that will save their life. It’s a little like the butterfly effect only with a shorter lead time. Every guest you save gives you a new power and every clock you find is a new checkpoint.

Time is your friend….and your closest enemy

The art style is suitably eerie for the story but lovable. The rooms are suspended mid screen with a fixed camera position. It is not something that’s used often but when it’s used like this it is charming. In fact that’s the word I’d use to describe the game. Charming, the art, textual dialogue and the music all charm me. The music is very likable. Sure it can make your puzzles even tougher as the music urges you to move quicker and make a mistake.

I have only one issue with this. Firstly, is with how much you are thrown into the deep end. The game offers little in the way of explanation. This can be a little frustrating as it means for the most part you are sat there in confusion. On second thought, aren’t puzzle games meant to do this? Aren’t we supposed to be…puzzled?

So here is my conclusion. If you are looking for a lovably difficult puzzle game look no further than this fantastic value for money game that is just waiting for you in the PS Store.

]]>Not for the first time, today’s PS4A Picks is dominated by awesome Japanese games, including Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, Nier: Automata, Persona 5 and Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, with the amazing Horizon: Zero Dawn representing the West.

DolphGB

I’ve been away recently, and since I don’t take my PS4 on transatlantic flights, I sometimes miss out on playing the latest titles as they launch. That was the case with Horizon: Zero Dawn. I wasn’t able to even start Aloy’s story until three weeks after launch. Thankfully, it was worth the wait, and then some.

Simply put, Horizon is probably the best game I’ve played since The Last of Us on the PS3. It is almost faultless. The controls are perfectly weighted and give you a tremendous sense of control. The graphics are to die for, and sometimes I find myself just walking around doing nothing other than gasping in awe at the scenery. The story is compelling, beautifully told, and intrigues from the very first moment. The sound and music are spot on too – in particular, the ambient noise that surrounds you as you move through the landscape and urban areas. The battles are awesome, the weapons are outstanding, and everything just works. If I have one gripe, it is that the climbable routes aren’t as well marked out as they should be, but other than that, I can’t fault it.

And the depth? Well, that’s the most remarkable thing of all. In addition to a superb main story, you have eight other classes of ‘mission’ to dig into, including errands, side missions, hunts, explorations, and more. I’ve found a new favourite obsession on the PS4, so you can expect to hear a lot more about Aloy’s exploits in the coming weeks. If you don’t have Horizon: Zero Dawn yet, you’re missing out on one of the best games ever created.

Mitch

At 99:39 hours, I’ve finished Persona 5 and fell completely in love with it. Few games are this outstanding, and I’m already eager to play through it again. It’s truly one of the best games ever made. If you enjoy games with well-written stories and characters, then you should definitely give it a try, as it excels in every aspect. If someone asked me which game comes closest to perfection, Persona 5 would be my answer. Persona 4 Golden may still be my favourite game of all time, but P5 is a very close second, and I’m proud to say that. Well done, Atlus; you’ve really outdone yourselves, and I’m excited to hopefully to see more of the Persona 5 world in the future. Fingers crossed for an anime and another fighting game or other spin-off. Honestly, you should really play Persona 5. You won’t regret it.

I’ve also played a whole lot of Nier: Automata, which I’ve now finished. I clocked in around 30 hours to complete the five main endings (including the true ending) and loved it. It tells a very human story, despite being a tale about androids and machines, but its narrative is wonderful and thought-provoking, and I’d happily play through it again. I do still prefer the first game, but this is a worthy sequel and amongst the best games that I’ve played on PS4. I hope Square Enix and Yoko Taro can get to work on another Nier title, and hopefully remaster the first game!

Sam

It’s here! Everyone, the wait is over! No, not Horizon, and not Persona either. I’m getting excited by a compilation of remastered PS2, PSP and DS games. OK, I admit that when you say it like that it sounds terrible. But anyway, Kingdom Hearts is on PS4 and has already swallowed most of my gaming time. I never played the first one when I was younger, although to be fair I was only five when it came out.

To be honest, based on how difficult I’m finding it in some areas, I’m glad I didn’t play the original KH back then, as I think it would have scared me off gaming. Kingdom Hearts II, however, I loved as a child, and now I actually have a chance to finish it! The series was a hugely ambitious project, but it achieves what it set out to do perfectly. My only hope is that Kingdom Hearts III will feature Marvel and Star Wars. I mean, as Disney own those franchises now, why not?

Stefan

The main game I’ve been playing over the last few weeks is the amazing Zero Escape: The Nonary Games – a PS4 remaster of the first two Zero Escape visual novels. The second game in the series (Virtue’s Last Reward) has been my favourite game on PS Vita since its release back in 2012, but this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of playing the first game (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors), as it had previously only been available on Nintendo DS.

I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish with 999’s bloody tale of murder and revenge, and have now unlocked each of the game’s six endings, and have just started VLR. These aren’t usually my kind of game at all, but the gripping story and smart puzzles come together to form an incredible experience that is unlike anything else I’ve played. I purposefully haven’t mentioned much about the specific plot here, as it is something you need to see for yourself. If you enjoy whodunnits, even if you’ve never played a visual novel before, I implore you to give The Nonary Games a try.

]]>12000Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (PS4)http://ps4attitude.com/review/2017/04/zero-escape-nonary-games-ps4
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:25:48 +0000http://ps4attitude.com/?p=11969Zero Escape: The Nonary Games brings together 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward, the first two games in the Zero Escape series, for the first time on PS4 — this is […]

]]>Zero Escape: The Nonary Games brings together 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward, the first two games in the Zero Escape series, for the first time on PS4 — this is also 999’s first appearance on a Sony platform. 999 remains to be one of the greatest, tense visual novels I’ve ever played and whilst Virtue’s Last Reward isn’t quite as good, it’s still a solid title that’s worth playing.

The Nonary Games refer to the games that the cast participate in which, as you might’ve guessed, isn’t a bundle of fun. Two casts of nine are forced to solve puzzles in exchange for their lives, and both stories intertwine in both plot and characters to form a larger picture. In 999 you have nine hours to get off of a quickly sinking ship, whilst in Virtue’s Last Reward you’re trapped in a warehouse-like facility which is as bleak as it sounds. Unsettling yet engaging, both stories will keep you guessing as you fret over who might be the next casualty and who will make it out alive. You won’t like everyone in the cast but you’re not expected to either, and you’ll be thinking about what their true intentions are — some characters you can’t help but love, though.

Being a pair of visual novels, you’ll be reading a lot of the time with a few puzzles interspersed to shake things up a little. A new feature to the Nonary Games is that you can play in Novel Mode or Adventure Mode. Novel Mode plays more like the original DS version of the game where you get to read every little bit of dialogue including Junpei’s personal thoughts, whilst Adventure Mode only displays spoken dialogue between all characters. Novel Mode is what you’ll want if you want the traditional 999 experience but Adventure Mode is great for replays, and it genuinely looks nicer. Virtue’s Last Reward is almost a direct port of the Vita version, without any notable new bells and whistles.

Puzzles make up for the other half of gameplay where you’ll search rooms for various clues and solve several challenging equations and riddles — having played the games before, I still found them to be a little tricky at times! Despite having a time limit as part of the story, you’re generally allowed to take as much time as you want solving puzzles and searching rooms. Both games are rather lengthy on your first run, although 999 still clocks in around 9 hours or so (hahaha) and Virtue’s Last Reward clocked in around 25 hours or so, making the latter a far longer game. Both are well paced and have a good mix of reading and puzzle solving, although I stand by 999 being superior in both aspects, and it’s amongst the best visual novels that I’ve played.

Virtue’s Last Reward has seen little in the way of visual improvement, whereas 999 has had a major touch-up to adapt it for high-definition systems. Most notably are the 2D portraits which are more dynamic and fluid in movement, and they’re clear and crisp — they sometimes look a little odd when static when it comes to the eyes, but this is easily overlooked. Environments have been touched up too, and 999 is looking it’s very best now. Virtue’s Last Reward uses 3D instead of 2D and it’s environments are much more bland and uninteresting, but the 3D models are nice to look at and character design is brilliant across both games.

999 has the better soundtrack in my opinion, with “Tinderbox” being a memorable tune which I remember from when I played the DS game. Worth mentioning is that both games have English voice-over whereas 999 never did and Virtue’s Last Reward did, but only in North America. Some characters fit better than others, with Junpei’s voice-actor sounding extremely American and sometimes a little forced when compared to the rest of the cast — it’s a solid performance, but maybe he could have been directed better as it veers from great to unnatural quite often. It’s wonderful to be able to play through both the games with English voice-acting though, and it’s one of the greatest selling points in The Nonary Games collection.

If you’ve never played them before then you’re in for a memorable ride with the Zero Escape series, although it’s a shame that the latest and final game, Zero Time Dilemma, didn’t make the jump to PS4 with this collection — you can play the entire series on Vita and PC, but not on PS4 which is a tad irritating, and I hope it arrives at a later date. 999 is the stand out title in the collection with a clever, engaging story which loses it’s way a little towards the end, but overall is an engrossing ride which I was eager to play through again. Virtue’s Last Reward is a solid title but having to play through the same events several times to achieve the true ending became tedious rather quickly, especially as there isn’t anything in the form of an excellent pay off. I’ve enjoyed Zero Escape but I feel that 999 could have wrapped up differently and not needed a sequel, especially as they’ve not been nearly as clever but regardless, all three titles come together to create a suspenseful and gripping trilogy of visual novels. You should definitely consider giving them a go.